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AN 



HISTORICAL ADDRESS, 



DELIVERED BEFORE THE 



CITIZENS OF THE TOWN OF DEDHAM, 



ON THE 



TWENTY-FIRST OF SEPTEMBER. 1S36, 



BEING THE 



Stcoiitr (ftcnteuufai &unibtvs«mt 



OF THE 



INCORPORATION OF THE TOWN. 



BY SAMUEL F. HAVES", 



v 



»X5 • 



- 



DEDHAM: 

PRINTED BY HERMAN MANN", 

1837, 









L . . . s^/^ 



At a meeting of the Inhabitants of Dedham on 
the 14th day of November, A. D. 1S36— 

VOTED, — That the thanks of the Town be presented to 
Samuel F. Haven, Esquire, for his excellent Address deliv- 
ered on the late Centennial Anniversary — and that he be re- 
quested to furnish a copy thereof for publication. 

A copy of the Record. 

RICHARD ELLIS, Town Clerk. 



ADDRESS. 



We have assembled, .sons and citizens of Dcdharn, in honor 
of the time when the long dull rule of rude uncultivated nature 
was first interrupted on this spot by the organization of a civi- 
lized community. We commemorate the planting of institutions, 
the commencement of physical improvements, with whose growth 
and progress our family histories are intermingled, or in whoso 
results our present fortunes and future hopes are interested, 
i utrs of a goodly heritage, we deem it a debt of common grati- 
tude to remember the labors that acquired and preserved it for 
our enjoyment. On the last verge of one of those great periods 
by which human existence, collectively speaking, is measured, 
we would, ere overstepping its limits, reflect upon the past and 
thereby gather wisdom for the future. Upon the page of histo- 
ry, or in the village record, we find names, now the familiar ap- 
pellations of our kindred or friends, associated with scenes and 
events that lie dim in the shadow which advancing time throws 
behind it, and the mind seeks the satisfaction of more distinct 
knowledge and clearer perceptions of them. 

The impulse that brings us together today is one of the most 
common instincts of our nature. The savage race who once 



held possession of the soil where \vc stand, but of whose blood 
'now runs not a drop in human veins,' were accustomed to honor 
the memory, and renew in recollection the achievements of 
their fathers, as we would now do of ours. Yet how different 
the task! The red man required no record of customs and 
manners to aid his conceptions of the by-gone of his tribe. He 
had but to look within and around himself for a living history 
more exact than words could delineate. Hardly less uniform 
than the wild herbage that sprang up annually beneath his feet, 
the child grew into the place of the parent, and occupied it with- 
out improvement. No inventions added to his powers ; no dis- 
coveries enlarged the limits of his knowledge ; no gradual labor 
developed the resources of material creation; no happy effort of 
intellect raised the general mind into clearer light and more ex- 
tended comprehension. Could he have recalled his sires from 
their gi'aves, they would have been startled by no unaccustomed 
scenes. The same canoe, which he of today had tied to the 
same unchangeable shore, might be entered familiarly by the 
whole line of his progenitors, each thinking it his own. The 
same bow and arrow, the same scanty blanket of skins, the same 
ornaments of shells, each might assume as the ones laid down by 
himself ere he fell on his last sleep. 

When arts of improvement came, they operated but to destroy; 
and these denizens of the wilderness were annihilated befi re 
they could be changed. They could pour forth from their minds 
the glowing figures and vivid illustrations of natural eloquence ; 
they could argue and reason with an address and shrewd 
that would not discredit a practised logician ; they could form 
sagacious plans of policy ; their chiefs were often adroit diplo- 
matists, governing their subjects wisely in peace and leading 
them skilfully in war ; they could even enter into the subtleties 
of theology, and dispute upon the principles of ethics; but to en- 



gage successfully in any of the branches of mechanical industry, 
farther than the twisting of willow into rude baskets, and the 
stringing of a few fanciful shells, seems to have been beyond 
their capacity. 

There was much meaning in the notion of the ignorant man, 
(as Winthrop calls him,) who, on being enquired of by an in- 
quisitive Indian, as to what were the first principles of a Com- 
monwealth, replied, ' Salt is the first principle, by means of 
which we keep our flesh and fish, to have it ready when we 
need it ; whereas you lose much for the want of it, and are 
sometimes ready to starve. A second principle is Iron, for 
thereby we fell trees, build houses, till our land, &c. A third is 
Ships, by which we carry forth such commodities as we have to 
spare, and bring in such as we need.' 'Alas!' (saith the Indian,) 
'then I fear we shall never be a Commonwealth, for we can 
neither make salt, nor iron, nor ships.'* 

They are gone, all of them, with the forest of which they 
seemed a part, and we, children of art, as various in our gener- 
ations as ure the arts which we have made, and by which in turn 
we are modified, upon the same soil, and beneath the same skies, 
can scarce follow or realize the rapid changes which the restless 
spirit of our race has effected and is effecting in outward cir- 
cumstances, and through them in its own condition and char- 
acter. 

The invention of printing, by multiplying copies of the bible, 
till then a sealed book in the hands of the priests, led to the ref- 
ormation. Out of the reformation, from a free, untrammelled 
perusal of the scriptures, sprang that half religious, half political 
party, in England, called the puritan party; whose members, not 
satisfied with the partial reform from the absurdities of popery, 
made by the church of England, sought to introduce what they 

» Winthrop's History, vol. 2, 304. 



8 

deemed a purer system of worship, deriving its rules of disci- 
pline, not less than its standard of faith, directly from the bible.* 
Their efforts involved a civil a9 well as ecclesiastical revolution, 
which, under Cromwell, was finally, for a brief period, accom- 
plished. Fortunately, before the strength of their party gave 
much hope of ultimate triumph at home, a portion of them, more 
self-denying or more zealous than the rest, led quite as much by 
a desire to carry out their principles in the establishment of a 
religious commonwealth, as impelled by actual or apprehended 
persecution, came to these shores, prepared to devote themselves 
and their substance to the accomplishment of a work, which they 
believed God had ordained. They expected here to rear a cho- 
sen seed, and bring back the human race to that free and sacred 
communion with its Maker, from which it had fallen. The policy 
of the pilgrims partook of the intolerance and superstition natural 
to men engaged in what they deemed a divine mission, and ap- 
plying the prophecies of the bible to their own condition and ex- 
pectations. The excitement attending this imagined position 
pervaded all classes, making religion or theology the absorbing 
subject of all minds. They were prepared for any and all mi- 
raculous manifestations either of good or evil agency. In favor 
of their enterprise the good spirits of heaven would exert their 
choicest influence; against it the demons of darkness would as 
strongly contend. Between the two they must win their way, 
secure of final success, but subject to many difficulties and disap- 
pointments. The effect of withdrawing from the ancient preju- 
dices and long established associations which were interwoven 
with the ecclesiastical system of the old countries, was different 
from what had been expected. Instead of the quiet enjoyment of 
a uniform faith, their minds, released from outward constraint, 
and having the opportunity which a new country affords for re- 

» Neal's History of the Puritans. 



constructing both civil and religious institutions from their orig- 
inal principles, became prolific of new lights, new revelations, 
and new constructions of scripture.* The more strict and staunch 
of the puritans saw with pain one of the main objects of their la- 
bors liable to be defeated, and much severity and unpleasantness 
of temper was manifested towards those who differed from the 
more orthodox creed. Many consequently sought in new planta- 
tions that peace which was denied them in the places then set- 
tled. New locations about the country were thus established 
sooner than otherwise might have happened ; and to this cause 
the origin of Dedham, at first called "Contentment," has some- 
times been attributed. Other and sufficient motives, however, 
also influenced the inhabitants of Watertown and Roxbury, from 
which places the founders of Dedham more immediately came. 
The grass land, from the increase of cattle, had become deficient 
in the older towns, and there prevailed among men to whom the 
possession of landed property was new, and associated in their 
minds with wealth and power, a strong desire for larger farms 
and more extensive domains. J 

The settlement of Dedham, it has been supposed, was begun in 
1635,'j; The people of Watertown and Roxbury had leave from 
the General Court to move as early as May, and we have the rec- 
cord of a birth here, on the 21st of June following, precisely six 
years and four days from the morning when Winthrop and his as- 
sociates first entered the unexplored harbor of Boston, ' to find a 

•At a synod in 1637, there were condemned eighty opinions which had 
spread in the country — ' some blasphemous, others erroneous and all un-'-fe. 
Winthrop, vol l,p.238. 

t ' Most men unlanded till this time 
For large lands eager sue. 
Had not restraint knocked off" their ha/ids 
Their farms too big had grew.' 

•Good news from New England.' London 1648 

$ Worthington's Hist. 

% 



10 

place for sitting down.' This brief space of time had sufficed to 
render the scttlements'about the bay ' crowded by their nearness 
to each other,' and from that year we may date the beginning of 
inland plantations in Massachusetts.* 

Those who first embarked above the falls of Charles River, 
on the voyage of discovery which resulted in the selection of this 
place, may well have felicitated themselves on the success of their 
enterprise. The natural meadows, on whose coarse grass the 
cattle of the first comers depended for sustenance, till through 
the dry leaves of the cleared forest a finer herbage should strug- 
gle upward to meet the sun, not only spread in wide luxuriance 
on either side of this tranquil stream, but ran up among the swells, 
and expanded around and between the patches of hard-land. 
This plain too, of gentle elevation, surrounded by the low 
grounds, save a narrow neck at the west, would seem favorable 
for a garrison, should a place of security from the savages be 
required. 

The Indians of this neighborhood, however, had been nearly 
all carried off by the small pox, a year or two before, j" and most 
of those remaining alive had probably joined themselves to the 
tribes whose habitations were at some distance to the south and 
west. The location must have been considered as possessing 
peculiar advantages, from the number of intelligent and wealthy 
men who immediately became inhabitants, and the care which 
was taken to prevent any but such as were well recommended 
from joining the new society. 

The first recorded public meeting was on the 15th day of 
August 1636, at which were present eighteen persons. These 
adopted a constitution or covenant, by which each individual 
bound himself to give information concerning any persons who 

» See Appendix, A. 

| In 1633. Winthrop, vol. 1, p. 116. 



11 

applied for admission, and also to submit to such fines as might 
be imposed for violation of rides. There was. also a meeting on 
the 29th of the same month. The next assembly, on the 6th of 
September, at six o'clock in the morning, was held for the pur- 
pose of subscribing a petition to the General Court, for the con- 
tinuation of their grant of all that was left from former grants 
on the south side of Charles river, and five miles square on the 
north side. Nineteen persons signed at the meeting, and three, 
after the meeting was dissolved. So that, says a note in the 
record, "all the names of those who are admitted to our so- 
ciety are subscribed thereto." These are, Edward Allen the 
leader of the enterprise, Abraham Shaw, Philemon Dalton af- 
wards settled at Ipswich, Ezekiel Holliman who founded the 
first Baptist church at Providence and baptized Roger Williams,* 
John Kingsbury, John Dwight the progenitor of the late presi- 
dent Dwight of Yale College,! John Cooledge, Richard Evered 
whose distinguished descendant^ now honors us with his pres- 
ence, "Ralph Shepherd, John Hay ward, Lambert Genere, Nicho- 
las Phillips, John Gay, Thomas Bartlett, Francis Austen, J John 
Rogers, Joseph Shaw, William Beardstowe, Robert Feke, a citi- 
zen of some note at Watertown, who never came here, Thomas 
Hastings, and John Huggen.|| A grant of the General Court 
was made in conformity with this petition, changing the name 
however from Contentment to Dedham, out of respect to some 

* Winthrop, vol. 1, 293. Hutch. 1, p. 39 note. 
| Worth ington's Hist, of" Dedham. 
$ Gov/ Everett. 

$ A man of property who attempted to return to England, but was taken 
by the Algerines and carried into slavery. This fate, according to Win- 
throp, had been foretold to him previous to his departure. 

|| John Ellis, Daniel Morse, and Joseph Morse, who were present at tha 
fir^t meeting, are not upon this list. Allotments of land had been made to 
them, but they did not take possession immediately, which occasioned some- 
•omnlaint. 



12 

persons who had lately arrived from Dcdham, in England. This 
document hears date September 10th, 1636, corresponding in the 

new style to this day, which completes the second century since 
the incorporation of the town. 

A portion of the individuals ahove mentioned remained on the 
ground the first winter. In the Spring following, there seems to 
have been some alarm from the Indians,* as watches and wards 
are ordered to be set, and an invitation is sent to Thomas 
Cakebread, a renowned soldier of Watertown, to come and be 
at the head of military affairs. This was probably a false alarm, 
as we hear no more of it, and the gallant Captain Cakebread did 
not long lend the terror of his name for the security of the place, 
but disposed of his allotment to Francis Chickering.^ 

In the course of the succeeding year, the village lots being 
entirely taken up, it became necessary to deny admission to nu- 
merous applicants, until it was ascertained what farther accom- 
modation could be provided for new comers. By continuing the 
list of inhabitants in the order of their admission to that period, 
or a little beyond, we shall find it to include many of the names 
now most respected among us, and some of persons afterwards 
leading men in other places. First came Jonathan Fairbanks; 
then Thomas Carter, afterwards minister at Woburn; then John 
Eaton "is entertayned into the lot which Thomas Hastings had 
layd downe." Ralph Wheelock, ancestor of the founder and 
first president of Dartmouth College, and Henry Phillips, both 
candidates for office as teachers in the church, accompanied 
Captain Cakebread from Watertown. The first was one of the 
founders of Medfield, the other, disappointed of promotion, is 
supposed to have returned to England. There were admitted, 

*This was about the time of the Pequod war. 

$ In 1G64, "Thos. Breadcake'' (Cakebread) was "allowed to take two guns 
from Winter Island'' for the defence of Sudbury. Col. Record. 



^ 



n 

by one vote, Ferdinando Adam, Michael Metcalf, Mr. John Al- 
lin, Anthony Fisher, who occupied "the Smith's lot till his father 
should arrive," Thomas Wight, Eleazer Lusher, Robert Hins- 
dale whose bones now lie in honorable company beneath the 
monument at Bloody Brook, John Luson, John Fisher, Thomas 
Fisher, Mr. Timothy Dalton, and John Morse. The two misters, 
John Allin and Timothy Dalton, were rival candidates for the 
station of pastor. It was therefore very sagaciously replied to 
the application of this party for admission — that it is consented 
unto, "upon manifestation of their disposition to sit down with 
us in a civil condition without farther expectations." Mr. Dal- 
ton was afterwards sent by the Governor and Council,* with Mr. 
Bradstreet and the noted Mr. Peters, to settle a controversy 
between two ministers at Pascataquack,t/ where the same wise 
precaution seems not to have been adopted. Larkham and 
Knowles, two pugnacious persons, each claimed to be pastor of 
the church at that place, and having excommunicated each oth- 
er, at length marched out, accompanied by their friends, to do 
battle with worldly weapons, one of them brandishing a pistol, 
the other bearing a bible upon a staff for an ensign.^ The com- 
missioners very naturally determined both sides to be in fault. 
One result of the journey was that Mr. Dalton became minister 
at Hampton in that neighborhood. Next came John Batchelor 
and John Roper, the first of whom went to Hampton, where his 
brother was teacher; J the other settled at Lancaster, and with 
his family was desti-oyed by the Indians; then Nathaniel Col- 
burn ; then Jeffrey Mingey, who was afterwards a leading man 
at Hampton. Henry Smith, Edward Colver, (wheelwright) 
John Frary, Rowland Clark, Thomas Kempe, (blacksmith) rul- 

* Wintlirop's Journal, vol. II, p. 2". f Now Dover, N. H. 

} Belknap's Hiat. New Hampshire. 

$ Stephen Batchelor of Hampton was sMspended from the pastoral office 
by the G&n. Court for "contempt of authority. '' Col. Records. 



14 

ing elder John Hunting, and some others who did not tarry long, 
were obliged to wait for a new survey of lands. William Bul- 
lard and John Bullard next appear; then follow Giles Fuller 
and Edward Richards; and not long after the names of Farring- 
ton and Guild occur. 

These men were Puritans; most of them undoubtedly of char- 
acter and standing in their own country. The year 1635 had 
been remarkable for the number of respectable men which it 
introduced into the Colonies. It was the time when Sir Henry 
Vane came over, and when Pym, Hampden, Sir Arthur Hazle- 
rigg, and Oliver Cromwell, intended to have done so.* No less 
than eleven ministers were among the number of emigrants. 
This will explain why so many of that class are found with the 
first settlers in Dedham. Each might hope to obtain pastoral 
promotion in the new town. They were of somewhat different 
sentiments, but the religious character of the settlement was not 
yet determined. Never was there such excitement on the most 
subtle points of theology as prevailed in the colony at that time. 
When Mr. John Allin formed a church here in 1638, these cler- 
gymen generally left and became pastors in other places. 

The first village was formed around the spot where we now 
are.| Two highways, one leading from 'Little River' as far 
west as the common, the other from the landing place on Charles 
river to Wigwam Pond, crossed each other as Common street 
and Court street do at the present day, and occupied nearly the 
same places. It was probably intended to erect the meeting- 
house on some position farther west than where it now stands, 
as the Record states, that 'for the loving satisfaction of some 
neighbors on the east side of Little River, it is condescended that 
it be set on the end of John Kingsbury's lot,' the present loca- 
tion. 

•Hutch. Hi«t, 1.41. 
tSea Apptndix B. 



15 

Let us borrow from fancy her wand, and waving it oyer the 
objects around us, restore them to the condition in which they 
were a little less than two hundred years ago. Aid us, powers 
of imagination, to pronounce the magic words which shall bid 
this house shrink within the limits of thirty-six feet long, twenty 
feet wide, and twelve feet high, return to its rustic walls of logs, 
and renew its roof of thatch. Let us obliterate the well trod 
streets around it, change yon elms into straggling forest trees, 
annihilate all those fair edifices, and let a few low dwellings 
range upon the north and east sides of the bushy and unsubdued 
plain. We will then a little by our right, among the stumps, 
pile up from the forest timber a school house, eighteen feet one 
way, by fourteen the other, two stories high, with a small watch 
tower above for our security, and we shall find ourselves in the 
first village of Dedham. Does the scene seem strange to us? 
The grave men with curled mustaches and long tufts of beard* 
depending from their chins, that should occupy the seats on one 
side of this house, and the not less grave women in their scarlet 
hoods and cloaks on the other side, and that solemn array of 
boys and girls vainly striving to stiffen the elasticity of youthful 
faces into equal gravity, seem not less strange. | Wait till this 
congregation, whom we have thus called together, have sharp- 
ened their intellectual appetites on a four hours' lecture — then 
ye, who now bear the names that have come down to you from 
the progenitors of the town, step forth and greet your ancestors. 
They will gaze in wonder at your appearance not less than you 
at theirs. But passing that by; can you fall in with the current 
of their thoughts — sympathize in their associations? Or suppo- 

* Beards went out of fashion not long after this period. 

t The seats of men and women were always on different sides of the 
meeting house. The boys and girls were seated in the aisle, or else on the 
1 hind seats,' which were raised that the children might be conspicuous and 
easily watched. 



16 

sing them to be occupied with the absorbing subjects of their 
time, are you prepared to discuss, not the expediency of rail- 
roads or the success of manufactures, or the operations of politi- 
cal parties, but the exciting questions, "whether a believer is 
more than a creature?" "Whether a man may be justified be- 
fore he believes?" "Whether a man might not attain to any 
sanctification in gifts and graces, and have spiritual and contin- 
al communion with Jesus Christ, and yet be damned?" These 
were the topics agitating and dividing the public mind at that 
period. Can you follow their lead through scripture, and 
couple every thought and circumstance with an appropriate text ? 
Or if a lighter mood chance to prevail, can you join in scrip- 
ture jests, pious conceits, religious puns, and draw your humor 
from the same source that furnishes your weapons of controver- 
sy ; extract political science, business maxims, and heavenly 
wisdom, all from one book, the bible?* I fear it will be an awk- 
ward family meeting: Not merely because the conversation 
might have, (as Hutchinson says of the correspondence between 
the regicide GofTe and his wife,) "too much religion in it for the 
taste of the present day;" but because on all subjects the method 
of reasoning and the bias of mental action have undergone a 
change, not less marked than has taken place in the nature of 
the topics, or in the common customs and fashions of society .J 

Tell Richard Evered§ that he who now fills the seat of the 
Winthrops and Dudleys, is of his own blood — one who not less 
than Winthrop himself hath "a gift at exhortation" — at whose 

* 'I am very apt to believe, what Mr. Perkins hath in one of his prefatory 
pages to his golden chain, that the word and scriptures of God doeconteyne 
a short upoluposis,or platforme, not only of theology, but also of other sacred 
sciences (as he calleth them) attendants and handmaids thereunto, which he 
maketh Ethics, Economies, Politicks, Church government, Prophecy, 
Academy.' Letter from Mr. Cotton to Lord Say and Seal. 16S6. 

J See Appendix C. 

{ So spelled in the records. 



17 

lips choice words wait on choice thoughts, and lead them to the 
ear in all the pleasing harmony of appropriate expression. The 
stern puritan will perhaps propound a passage from scripture and 
call upon his descendant to 'exercise.' Yet I doubt whether some 
' Salathiel Bangtext,'* hammering out with heavy rhetoric the 
hard doctrines of the period, would not better suit the rough fan- 
cies of these stiff minded men. 

The first organization of society in Dedham was of the most 
primitive character. Each man was provided with a home-lot 
of twelve acres if married, and eight acres if unmarried — This 
to begin with. The grants afterwards seem to have been made 
according to the necessities of members, or as a reward for ser- 
vices performed. ' The number of persons in a family (says the 
record) is a rule to divide the lands by, and a very considerable 
rule. Quality, rank or desert and usefulness in church and 
commonwealth, are also one rule considerable in the division of 
lands; and thirdly, such men as are of useful trades, and are fit 
to commence the same, are to be encouraged thereto by receiv- 
ing some lands near home if it may be ; and husbandmen also who 
can improve more, are to have lands fit for their calling.' Por- 
tions were also set apart for the purposes of education and the 
support of religion. A large part of the lands, however, contin- 
ued to be public property, and the interest of individuals therein 
was determined by the number of cows or sheep they were en- 
titled to pasture in the public herd-walks. 

Those labors, which are necessary in preparing a new planta- 
tion for comfortable occupancy, were immediately and earnestly 
entered upon. With a commendable forethought, or to use 
their own expression, ' careful of the comfort of succeeding 
times,' they were anxious to layout in the beginning such roads 
and public ways as might, so far as they could judge, be aft r- 

* Scott's ' Heart of Mid- Lothian.' 
3 



IS 

wards needed. Their municipal rules, embracing the relations 
of private property and mutual interest, Were peculiarly system- 
atic and sensible. Highway work, of all public employments, 
at the present day, the most grudgingly undertaken, and least 
profitably executed, was of course the most burdensome tax. 
To this the men were summoned at first by beat of drum, as 
they were called to meeting on the sabbath; afterwards by the 
ringing of the bell, morning and afternoon. Other public works 
seem in ordinary cases to have been done by committees, who 
were paid in wheat or indian corn, which at fixed rates consti- 
tuted the currency, except where the purchase of certain things, 
considered as cash articles, were necessary. Sometimes the 
people gave a day, for the accomplishment of a particular ob- 
ject. So late as 1657, the town having declared, 'that tbe 
meeting-house should be lathed upon the inside, and so daubed, 
and whited over workmanlike,' the inhabitants turned out in a 
body, and the thing was done up at once; how workmanlike can- 
not now be determined. 

They had a pastor in Mr. Allin capable of commanding both 
love and respect, and in Eleazer Lusher, that ' man of the right 
stamp,' as the historian calls him,* they found all the mild firm- 
ness and gentle decision of character, connected with the most 
accurate business habits, qualifying him to take tbe lead in pub- 
lic affairs. But it was necessary that many others, and a large 
proportion of the society, should have been of the right stamp, 
as in fact they were, to maintain that stiict discipline and perfect 
system of affairs, which, with the utmost good feeling, was kept 
up during the lives of the first generation. 

* One of the 'right stamp and pure mettle, a gracious, humble and heaven- 
ly minded man.' Johns. ' Wonder working Providence.' In a description 
of some of our chief helps, both for Church works Military and Common- 
wealth worke.' 



19 

It is nol too cxtravagani eulogy of the first settlers in Dedham 
to say, they were a remarkable collection of people. Tradition 
brings down a high character attached to most of the names 
found on its early records, and their public and private acts fully 
confirm it. Orderly and industrious in their habits, they al- 
lowed no one to remain in their community, who was not en- 
gaged in some regular occupation.* Any violation of rules 
was followed by a penalty; yet the most exact strictness was ac- 
companied by equally unfailing loving kindness. Delinquents 
are in gentle phrase ' appointed ' to pay a fine, proportioned to 
the offence, and generally take upon themselves this office with- 
out a murmur; or, as is frequently the case, offset it by some 
public service. Liberal are they towards each other. If an in- 
dividual's crops have come short, or any other misfortune has 
befallen him, he is allowed to take shingles or clapboards from 
the public stock, that he may repair his fortunes by selling them 
at Boston. And because the town of Medfield, a child as it 
were of Dedham, did not feel able to pay the whole of a debt of 
£ 100, it was resolved to take £50, and allow two years to pay it 
in, ' in consideration of the many and great charges lying upon 
that town, and other like considerations.' Thrifty are they, hus- 
banding both public and private resources, with great economy 
and industry. Their remoter lands, not immediately wanted, 
they let out to people in the neighboring towns, and for many 
years received a regular income from meadows hired by Mr. 
Stoughton of Dorchester, and other responsible individuals. 
And as to private dealings, a contemporary writer says, ' the 
coin and commodities of the most populous town allure the Ded- 
ham people to many a long walk.'t Enterprising and saga- 

* By the Colonial law the constable of every place was to take knowledge 
of all persons who spent their time idly or unprontably ; ' especially of com- 
mon coasters, unprofitable fowlers, and tobacco takers.' Col. Record 1633. 

t Johnson's Wonder WorlOg Providence. 



20 

cious, they encourage by free grants the introduction of every 
branch of mechanical industry,* and, in three years from their 
first occupancy, they create a water power, carrying at this time 
four valuable and extensive manufacturing establishments, by 
digging a canal, which, robbing the tranquil Charles — flowing 
here unconscious of fall — of a portion of its waters, conveys.it to 
a spot where nature, at the distance of a mile, had provided a 
descent, whence the stream wends its way and joins another riv- 
er on its passage to the ocean. || Public spirited were they; fre- 
quent in donations to Harvard College ; and in their anxious 
efforts to procure a good school among themselves, they did not 
stint their appropriations to a single winter or summer, but voted 
£20 a year to be paid for eleven years together, the least sum 
for any one year, and to be increased as circumstances might 
render it practicable. "j" When a regular teacher could not be 
obtained, they called from their farms some of their own citi- 
zens, many of whom were competent to the station. Michael 
Metcalf did much service in this way; and Lieut. Fisher, who 
kept the Ordinary, in his annual bill for ' dieting the Selectmen ' 
had often another charge for keeping the school. As these citi- 
zens were summoned from their regular vocations, it was agreed 
that ' no advantage be taken to discount from their salaries for 
not attending the school, except it be discontinued a full week 
together.' Above all, they pursued a liberal and enlightened 
policy in matters of religion. The Church, severe within itself, 
would spend a whole winter in enquiring into the qualifications 
of applicants for admission; rejecting upon the slightest doubt, 

♦Appendix D. 

|| The first canal made in the country — unless the undertaking of one John 
Maisters in 1G31 was accomplished, of which I am not sure. He petitioned 
the Gen. Court for aid in making a canal or passway for vessels from the 
river through the marshes at Cambridge. Col. Rec. See Appendix E. 

t See Appendix F. 



21 

and trying gifts and graces by all the subtle tests made use of 
at that age; yet they molested no one who was not a member, for his 
private opinions. In such a sound and sensible community, we find, 
as might be expected, no persecutions, no witches, no supernat- 
ural occurrences. In 1660, the General Court sent out Judah 
Brown and Peter Pierson, convicted of Quakerism, to be whip- 
ped ' at the cart tail ' in Dedham;* not improbably from a belief 
that the people here would inflict the stripes with a gentle hand; 
or the motive might be to compel the inhabitants to take a share 
in these acts, as they were deemed, of public justice. 

Under the wise administration of the first settlers, the town 
prospered to a degree hardly equalled by any other plantation in 
the country. In 164-5, the Dedham rate was one fourth greater 
than that of Concord, whose beginning was one year earlier. 
It is spoken of at that period as abounding in gardens and orch- 
ards ; J and although the inhabitants had not then, as was the case 
some years after, attracted the attention of the General Court, 
and become amenable to the laws for excess of luxury in their 
apparel, yet a description of the good fare of New England, un- 
der date of 1642, was no doubt a faithful representation of the 
state of things here at that time. ' Now good white and wheat- 
en bread is no dainty, but even an ordinary man hath his choice, 
if gay clothing, and a liquorish tooth after sugar and plums, lick 
not away his bread too fast. All which are but ordinary among 
those that were not able to bring their own persons over at their 
first coming. There are not many towns in the country but the 
poorest person hath a house and land of his own, and bread of 
his own growing, besides some cattle. Flesh is no rare food, 
pork and mutton being frequent in many houses. So that this 

* Hutch. Hist. l,p. 203. 

JOgilby's Hist. This historian says Dedham began with about 190 per- 
sons. 



22 

poor wilderness hath not only equalled England in food, hut goes 
heyond it in some places for the plenty of wine and sugar which 
is ordinarily spent. Apples, pears, and quince tarts, instead ot 
their former pumpkin pies. Poultry they have plenty and great 
variety, and in their feasts have not forgotten the English fash- 
ion of stirring up their appetites with variety of cooking then- 
food. 'J 

The history of Dedham, and indeed that of New England, 
may he divided into three distinct portions of time, unequal in 
duration, but each marked by its own peculiar characteristics, 
which definitely separate it from the others. The first, that of 
the Pilgrims, who were mostly gone at the end of forty years, or 
about the time of Phillip's war, may be considered as purely 
puritan. During the second, the character of the people is mix- 
ed and changing ; the puritan severity is gradually passing 
away; English habits, tastes, and prejudices, appear much modi- 
fied in the new and less cultivated generation, whose sole expe- 
rience of life is derived from the scenes and incidents around 
them. Their fathers might tell them of the corruptions under 
which the church was suffering in the old countries ; of the 
grasping and dangerous power of papacy; of the numerous foes 
by which the true worship was beset; of the constant creeping 
in of worldly men into the offices of the church, bringing with 
them the pomp and ceremonies and luxury of worldly pride, and 
showing the necessity of cautious and strict discipline ; but to 
those brought up in the wilderness, these representations would 
seem more like tales of other times, than as indicating dangers 
against which they must exercise unabated watchfulness. The 
divine right of kings ; the important distinctions in society, of 
which they would see some slight specimens around them; the 

\ Johnson. 



23 

iluty of loyalty to their liege sovereign; the clangers which 
would arise from admitting too much freedom among the mass 
of the people, might bo expatiated upon; but, far removed from 
the imposing splendors of a court, from a nobility to whom the 
magic influence of wealth and the venerable sanction of antiqui- 
ty had given dignity, on the one hand, and from a crowded pop- 
ulace, whom poverty, ignorance, and vice, had combined to un- 
humanize, on the other ; these lessons would make slight im- 
pression, compared with tho voice of nature, inculcating the 
more agreeable doctrines of equality and independence. Hence 
the mixed or Anglo-American character, which marks the sec- 
ond period — more liberal in ecclesiastical polity, more indepen- 
dent in matters of political doctrine, and by degrees approaching 
that consistency and completeness in itself, which in 1775 re- 
sulted in throwing off the remains of anglicism in the feelings 
and habits of the people, and the establishment of institutions 
better adapted to the American character, which then at the be- 
ginning of the third period had become predominant. It is gen- 
erally supposed that the Pilgrims brought with them those prin- 
ciples of freedom, in whose mature developement we claim su- 
periority over all other nations — our boast — our peculiar pride. 
Yet I believe all that is peculiar in the nature of our institutions 
is wholly of American growth. The seeds which germinated 
here are implanted in human nature, and were permitted to ex- 
pand and grow up to healthy maturity from the necessity of the 
case, arising out of the manner in which a body of men, equally 
intelligent, equally vigorous, equally able to satisfy the wants of 
nature, and all compelled to a degree of corporeal labor, were 
thrown together in a new land. Such a position, which in a 
measure carries society back to its elementary condition, is apt 
to result in that excess of liberty which leads to misrule and li- 
cence, and which, to use the expressive words of Winthrop, is 



24 

not true liberty, but ' a distemper thereof.'* That anarchical 
freedom, which renders it impracticable to enforce the edicts of 
just authority, has always been a fruitful source of destruction to 
colonial establishments. In New England, it was tempered by 
the character of the people, accustomed to self denial and to sub- 
jecting their desires to their sense of duty. Its action therefore 
was strong but healthy. The leading men were inclined to an 
aristocratic al civil government, which they said was according 
to the light of nature and scripture, and conformed to the aris- 
tocratical system of subordination which they believed the apos- 
tles had ordained for the church. They were willing to elect 
magistrates for life — to create an order of nobles. The spirit 
which corrected these prejudices needed not to be brought from 
the other side of the Atlantic. The free air of nature's wilds is 
full of it. We breathe it on the mountain's side. It comes up 
with the morning's mist from the meadow and the lake. J 

Between the years 1670 and 1675, the era of the Pilgrims 
may be deemed to have terminated. A few venerable men, the 
Patriarchs of Dedham, were still here ; but the management of 
affairs had fallen mostly into the hands of the second generation, 
and a new era, less tranquil, less marked by forbearance and 
love, less creditable in itself, yet the embryo of many of those 
traits of American character, to which we are indebted for much 
that is desirable in our present condition, had begun. The pas- 
tor, Mr. Allin — the chief counsellor, Eleazer Lusher — and 
Joshua Fisher, who kept the ordinary and was much in public af- 
fairs, died near each other about this period. § It is not to be 

* Winthrop's Journal vol 2, 229. The expression is applied by Winthrop 
to unlawful exercise of authority, but is still more applicable to an unlawful 
use of liberty. 

X Appendix G. 

} Appendix H. 



25 

supposed that these men left, none behind them worthy to fill their 
places, but their successors entered upon the charge of public 
concerns under less favorable circumstances. The common bond 
of perils past, of obstacles jointly encountered and overcome, with 
the sweet participation in the fruits of united labors, did not en- 
circle and bind together the sons, as it had done the fathers ; 
and it must be acknowledged that the flame of religious zeal 
burned more dimly in their bosoms. 

They chose a new pastor, Mr. Adams, but they could not 
trust to the liberality of private deposits in the contribution box, 
for his support. Conscience began to prove an inefficient col- 
lector of the ministerial tax. It became necessary to settle the 
proportion of every individual."]" Yet the form of a contribution 
each Lord's day was still kept up. 'And in case any shall be 
at some time shortened in money, he shall put in for that time a 
paper, wherein his name and his day's payment as shall be due 
is entered ; which papers he shall once within one month take 
out of the Deacon's hands and pay the debt. And every man 
shall put his money in a paper each Lord's Day, and his name 
written therein, and so deliver it into the box.' They erected a 
new Meeting house, in size and convenience corresponding to 
the increased wealth and population of the place ; but they could 
not agree upon the manner of sitting in it. The rules of prece- 
dence, by which the seats were distributed according to rank in 
society, had become difficult of application. They grew uneasy 
under the constraint of old formalities, as a man might under a 
garment he had outgrown ; and the accurate measurement of 
dignity, the nice calculation of personal importance, suited not 
the new notions of equality which were dawning upon them. 

t As early as 1630, there was a Colonial order that ministers should have 
houses built for them and regular salaries paid them, but it was either re- 
pealed or not enforced. Col. Record 1G30. 

4 



2G 

Having finished the house of worship, they wore careful to 
have all things within and without in a state of neatness and pro- 
priety. A new horse block is set up, a new publication post 
provided and painted. The old building is sold 'to procure a 
Terii to hang the bell in.' Loose stones are cleared away ; and 
all persons ' forbid tying their horses to the meeting house lad- 
der.' Those duties and responsibilities which we are accustom- 
ed to devolve upon that general factotum, the Parish Sexton, 
were divided among several. One functionary was appointed 
' to whip the dogs out of meeting, and to go of errands for the 
reverend Elders, and also to take care of the cushion and glass.' 
It was then ' agreed with the widow Dunkly and the widow El- 
lis to procure the bell to be sufficiently ringed upon the Lord's 
day, and in season, and to keep the meeting house clean, and 
take care of the doors and windows that damage come not unto 
the glass.' A graver dignitary was required to keep his eye 
upon the boys during service ; they being seated in the broad 
aisle, 'that they may be watched over according to law.'* 

Alas ! that the humble school house, near by, should at this 
time have been suffered to fall into decay, and that the ordinan- 
ces of education, next in importance to those of religion, should 
have been neglected. It is a mortifying fact that the Select- 
men, who in the month of January 1674, delegated Daniel 
Fisher to answer in behalf of the town which was presented 
for being deficient in a Schoolmaster, were almost at the same 
time, even the May following, obliged to notify the people, that 
they were likely to be prosecuted for not enforcing the law 
against excess in apparel. J 

The great increase of population, the number of young men 
who had become old enough to participate in public affairs, to- 

* Town Records. 
% Appendix I. 



r, 

gether with the multiplication of conflicting interests, rendered 
the government and regulation of the town, for many years af- 
ter the death of the Pilgrims no easy or enviable duty. 

The magistrates, instead of gracefully conforming their meas- 
ures to the change of times, adopted that policy, which has, un- 
der similar circumstances in national affairs, caused the over- 
throw of more than one government. They revived old regula- 
tions, and enforced them with greater strictness, in proportion as 
they were unadapted to the altered condition of things ; and 
amid the breaking up of ancient landmarks and the pouring in of 
new elements, changing the face of society and requiring a cor- 
responding change in public policy, they only clung to antiqua- 
ted forms and obsolete laws with greater tenacity. The law against 
the admission of strangers, under which Zerubbabel Phillips is 
the only one I find by the early records to have been proceeded 
against, is revived, and strictly enforced. Grown up children 
are not allowed to sojourn even with their parents, without leave 
obtained, on condition of good behavior, and a bond given 
to save the town harmless from all charges on their account. 
So of servants; and it was a matter of difficulty to get permis- 
sion to retain them at any rate. Many are the applications on 
the record accompanied with the brief adjudication — ' not grant- 
ed.' Joseph Smith asks leave to have a journeyman to work 
with him. 'Not allowed.' Another thinks it hard that he can- 
not be permitted 'to entertain' a fair kinswoman. As soon as 
notice is given that any strangers have appeared in town, a com- 
mittee is chosen to wait upon them, not to perform the rites of 
hospitality, but to bid them depart, as their tarrying in town is 
'disallowed.' 

In the year 1675, Dedham was in the full enjoyment of the 
fruits of the wisdom and industry that distinguished the first set- 
tlers. The fertile spots within the limits of the grant had been 



28 

discovered and improved. One portion, which had been early 
occupied, received in 1650 a distinct incorporation, and under 
the name of Medfield was now a prosperous town. A settlement 
had also been formed on the southern boundary in 1661, at a 
place called Wollomonopeag; which, being found 'fit to carry on 
a plantation in Church and Commonwealth ' became in 1673 the 
town of Wrentham. On the West was the village of ' praying 
Indian3,' to whom a tract of two thousand acres had been con- 
veyed out of tho Dedham grant, where the experiment of civi- 
lizing and christianizing was tried with a zeal and liberality of 
means, never before or since equalled. The subjects of this 
benevolent enterprise were a milder portion of the Indian race, 
scattered parts of broken-up tribes, who, with less spirit and loft- 
iness of character than existed among the nations yet entire and 
under the rule of their hereditary chiefs, were on that account 
more easily operated upon and moulded into the new character 
intended for them. Their language was rude and imperfect. 
The learned and superstitious Mather, finding it had no affinity 
to or derivation from any language on earth, that he was ac- 
quainted with, was surprised at some indications which seemed 
to him to render it probable that it differed no less from that of 
the regions under the earth. C I know not, (says he,) what 
thoughts it will produce in my reader, when I inform him, that 
once finding that a possessed young woman understood the Lat- 
in, Greek, and Hebrew languages, my curiosity led me to mako 
trial of this Indian language, and the Demons did seem as if they 
did not understand it.'* 

Yet this tongue, which thus puzzled the powers of darkness, 
the indefatigable Eliot contrived to master, and translating the 
Bible into it, laid the foundation, as he supposed, of a civilized 
and christian community. 

• Math, life of Eliot, vol. 1. p. 507. 



29 

Although the subjects of these humane efforts occupied a part 
of the original soil of Dedham, and were in other respects inti- 
mately connected with its early history, time will not permit me 
to enlarge upon their condition or ultimate fate. Mr. Allin, the 
pastor of this town, was among Eliot's first and most earnest as- 
sistants; frequent in his visits, preaching and praying among 
them, and receiving some of their most interesting religious con- 
fessions.* 

These ' ruins of mankind,' as an old writer calls them, proved 
troublesome neighbors. They would not confine themselves to 
their own territories; and much controversy on that account 
grew up between them and the Dedham people. § In their treat- 
ment of the Indians, our fathers are said to have manifested ' an 
awful respect to divine rules, '|j and certainly the doctrine of re- 
turning good for evil was often put in practice towards the tribe 
at Natic. Notwithstanding their frequent and vexatious en- 
croachments, the town, in 1659, voted, ' That whereas it ap- 
pears that the '2000 acres granted and laid out to the Indians at 
Natic, does not take in the sawmill, in good part already built 
by them, the town does farther grant to said Indians free liberty 
to finish the same, and the free use of the stream whereupon it 
stands.' And for their farther encouragement in this remarka- 
ble undertaking, which seems not to have been noticed, if known, 
by any writer, the town proceeds to grant them liberty to cut 
any timber they may want, within the limits of Dedham, with the 

* Appendix K. 

i Voted, that Sarg't Richard Ellis have \l. 7s. 6d. for sarving two tach- 
ments at Natic, and attending as a witness at Bostowne to that cause be- 
twixt Dedham and ye Indians. Town Records 1C61. 

|| Hubbard M. S. N. Eng. eh. 1. 



30 

simple proviso that it shall be cut from the common lands of the 
town, and only taken as they have occasion to use it.* 

This sawmill was never completed, and so entirely was the 
attempt forgotten, that the accurate and minute historian of Na- 
tic seems not to have been aware of the fact. The Indians are 
said to have erected a meeting-house like the workmanship of 
an English housewright, but it was with the aid and direction of 
two carpenters from Boston. They did build a bridge over the 
river, which, much to their pride and gratification, withstood a 
freshet that carried away the bridges at Medfield. 

In exchange for the two thousand acres conveyed to the use 
of the Indians, the town received a grant from the General 
Court of eight thousand acres, to be located any where within 
the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, on lands not previously bestow- 
ed. With a degree of taste and judgment most creditable to 
those who made the selection, the beautiful and fertile position 
now called Deerfield, then bearing the Indian name Pacomtuck, 
was chosen, and the title of the natives thereto fairly and equita- 
bly purchased. This Township was laid out in 1664, and, for 
nearly ten years, Dedham sustained and governed its colony 
with all the dignity and authority of a Lord Proprietary ."f 

That doubtful and bloody contest, known as ' Philip's war,' 
commenced in 1675. Indications of hostility had been increas- 
ing since 1671. The first actual outrage was committed in 
Dedham. A white man, shot through the body, was found in 
the woods. The circumstance agitated the whole colony. An 
Indian was arrested on suspicion, but whether executed or no 

• The conduct of the Dedham people was quite the reverse of a disposi- 
tion to encroach upon the rights of the Indians. They made it a point to 
buy up every claim of theirs whether well founded or not. See account of 
Indian deeds Appendix M. 

t Appendix L. 



31 

does not appear.* Then John Sansaman, the Indian schoolmas- 
ter at Natic was murdered, he having acted as a spy upon Philip 
and betrayed his councils. By this event the die was cast. 
Philip, to whose agency the murder was directly traced, finding 
himself detected threw off the mask, and began the war by an 
attack upon Swansea. Massachusetts was not unprepared. Ded- 
ham was not unprepared. The militia here had been equipped 
and put in a posture for war, with a supply of powder, bullets, 
and match, § two years before, and the inhabitants were encour- 
aged to enlist in ' the troop,' early in 1675, by an abatement of 
taxes; a kind of bounty that shows what substantial men entered 
into the service. This troop, forming a distinct force, under the 
command of Captain Prentice, was the first company engaged in 
the war. On the 26th of June, they received the alarm of the 
massacre at Swansea, where eight or nine men had been slain; 
and although it was late in the afternoon, immediately set out, 
intending to reach Woodcock's tavern in Wrentham that night. J 
They were delayed on the way by an eclipse of the moon; and 
1 some melancholy fancies would not be persuaded but that the 
eclipse, falling out at that instant of time, was ominous; con- 
ceiving also that in the centre of the moon they discovered an 
unusual black spot, not a little resembling the scalp of an Indian. 
Others, not long before, imagined they saw the form of an In- 
dian bow, accounting that also ominous; although (says the nar- 
rator) the mischief following was done by guns, and not by 
bows. '|| Being joined by a body of volunteers under Captain 
Mosely, they reached Philip's lands the next day a little before 
night. Twelve of the troop, unwilling to lose time, passed at 

* Hutch. Hist. Vol. 1, p. 283, note. 
i Appendix M. 
If. They set out from Boston. 
|| Hubbard's lnd. wars. 



32 

once into his territories. They immediately received a fire from 
the Indians concealed in the hushes. This they returned with 
spirit. The savages soon fled, and the troopers retired for the 
night, with the loss of one killed and one wounded. Such was 
the first battle. Philip was soon pressed with so much energy 
in that quarter, as to be compelled to change the scene of his 
operations. The next assault was made by the Nipmuck In- 
dians upon Mendon,* where they slew four or five persons,')' be- 
ino- led by one Matoonas, supposed to be the father of him who 
committed the murder in Dedham. The track of war then pas- 
sed on by Brookfield to Connecticut river, into the neighborhood 
of Deerfield, that thriving settlement, in which this town might 
well feel all the interest of a parent. Thither the Massachusetts 
forces hastened, and in that region were enacted some of the 
bloodiest scenes of the war. The Dedham people would natur- 
ally fly to the aid of their friends and kindred. Captain Mosely, 
commanding the principal detachment, was well known to them ; 
and Captain Beers, who with most of his company soon fell near 
Deerfield, was a popular neighbor at Watertown. Many from 
Dedham must have been out in that campaign. John Wilson, 
John Genere, and Elisha Woodward, slain with Captain Beers, 
belonged, I have no doubt, to this town; and among the victims 
at Bloody Brook, was Robert Hinsdale, one of our earliest set- 
tlers. 

In December 1675, the combined forces of the three colonies, 
led by Gen. Winslow, marched upon their disastrous, yet suc- 
cessful expedition, against the Narragansetts. Those belonging 
to Massachusetts on that occasion, consisting of six companies, 
were collected together at Dedham. Here their muster rolls 

* Holmes' Annals, vol. 1, p. 423. It was on the 14th July. 

tTh'i8 according to Mather was the first blood ever shed within the lim- 
its of Massachusetts in the way of hostility. Mather's lnd. wars, 5. 









S3 

were made, and here Major Appleton assumed the command. J 
What citizens of the place joined the enterprise, I do not know, 
having been able to meet with but one muster roll out of the six. 
The distinguished troop of Captain Prentice went with the other 
forces, probably as volunteers, they not being drawn as part of 
the regular proportion of this colony. 

Defeated on Connecticut river, the savages again haunted our 
more immediate neighborhood. Lancaster fell, and with it sev- 
eral who had moved thither from this village. The turn of Med- 
fleld came next,|| although garrisoned with 160 soldiers, not 300, 
as sometimes represented. It was the very sense of security that 
proved fatal to the inhabitants of that place. The town, like 
most inland plantations, was overgrown with young wood, the 
houses being seated in the midst of bushes. With the aid of 
these, the savages were easily enabled secretly to convey them- 
selves about the village after dark. Peering into the windows 
from their covert of shrubbery, they doubtless watched every 
movement of the unsuspecting inmates during that fatal nig 
The soldiers were billeted about in different parts of the town, 
and, after a dreary guard through the long hours of a February 
night, as the first beam of day began to appear in the east, and 
the morning light seemed hastening to relieve their weary watch, 
might naturally give way to the weight of slumber pressing upon 
their eyelids. Alas! this was the moment for which the vindic- 
tive foe had waited with untiring patience. Then pealed the 
deathshot through the windows, while the fierce tomahawk 
found its way, mid fire and confusion, to innocent and trembling 
bosoms. 

The attack was simultaneous in all parts of the town. Eight- 
een persons, men, women and children, were massacred, and 

J Hubbard's Indian wars. 
|| 2Jst Feb. 7. Hub. lnd. wars 119. 
5 



.34 

more than forty houses burned, before the invader could be re- 
pelled.§ 

Soon after this event, John Monoco, or one-eyed John, made 
his famous boast at Groton. He said he had burned Lancaster 
and Medfield, was then burning Groton, and would next burn 
Chelmsford, Concord, Watertown, Cambridge, Roxbury, Bos- 
ton — adding, ' what me will me do.'|j In this threat he has quite 
neglected Dedham. But the omission was probably a matter of 
policy, to put the people off their guard, as Indians were con- 
stantly detected lurking in the neighboring woods. If such was 
the intent, it failed most signally of its object. Except in the 
instance of Medfield, they never approached this region without 
reason to lament their rashness. They met with a notorious re- 
pulse on the confines of Medway. A party attempting to sur- 
prise Wrentham were discovered, and almost wholly destroyed* 
Old Woodcock's gun is said to have brought down one of them 
at the distance of eighty rods. Medfield redeemed her charac- 
ter by such a vigorous attack upon a body of them, that they 
never dared to show their faces in that quarter afterwards. Still 
worse fortune befel them nearer this village. In one instance, 
they were set upon and a negro taken captive, who informed of 
an intended assault upon Taunton, to which place notice being 
seasonably sent, the foe was repulsed and the town saved. | In 
another instance, venturing too near, they were attacked and 
seven of them killed and taken, among whom was the Sachem 

} Hubbard's Ind. wars. 

|| Hubbard. He was hanged in Boston 1676. 

* Wrentham was afterwards burned by the Indians and the inhabitants 
did not return till 1680. Hubbard. 

t Math. vol. 2, p. 497. 



of the faithless tribe al Springfield,J and also a Sachem of the 
Narragansetfs. 

As it was the fortune of Dedham to be particularly connected 
with the events that immediately led to the breaking out of the 
war, so had it the honor of an exploit which contributed more 
than any single occurrence, perhaps, next to the death of Philip, 
to bring it to a close. Poniham, Sachem of Shaomet, (now 
Warwick R. I.) was probably the only chieftain, except Philip, 
possessing sufficient energy and talent to have united the scat- 
tered tribes and infused into them his own spirit and courage. 
He was a double traitor. He had quarrelled with Miantonomo, 
chief Sachem of the Narragansetts, to whom he was tributary, 
and voluntarily subjected himself to the Colonial Government for 
the sake of protection. When the war began, he joined Philip, 
and became next to him the most dreaded of the Indian warri- 
ors. || He was slain by a party of the Dedham and Medfield 
people, on the 25th of July 1676. Fifty of his band were made 
prisoners, but he, refusing to be taken alive, was slain, raging like 
a wild beast. § The death of Philip, eighteen days after, soon 
brought this destructive war to a close. 

The sons of the pilgrims inherited from their fathers a deci- 
dedly martial spirit. Not that the love of military fame found a 
place in the bosoms of the puritans. They did not ' seek the 
bubble repuiation at the cannon's mouth.' It was not chivalry in 
the usual sense of the word that excited them to bold exploits. 

f The Springfield Indians had lived in so good correspondence with the 
English for 40 years, that more dependence was placed upon them than up- 
on any other Indians. In consequence of their perfidy the Natics and oth- 
ers called ' praying Indians,' falling under suspicion, were sent under wuard 
to Deer Island, where they remained during t the winter, ;ind suffered much 
hardship. Hutch. Hist. 

U Math. vol. 2, p. 407. 
'Even Philip was scarcely more feared than he.' Thatcher's Ind Biog. 

$ Hubbard's Ind. wars. p. 131. 



36 

Their courage had little of romance in it. It may rather he 
termed a general disposition to encounter and overcome obsta- 
cles; such a spirit of comhativeness as animated Martin Luther, 
and must ever be a leading characteristic of all earnest and suc- 
cessful reformers, guiding the pen in intellectual conflicts with 
the same energy that discards bodily fear in a contest with the 
sword. Archbishop Laud called the Pilgrims, ' men of refrac- 
tory humours.' The firmness of some may have assumed the 
form of dogged resistance or obstinate endurance ; but in more 
there was a stern and active resolution, that went out to meet 
danger, and breasted opposition manfully. Kindled by religious 
enthusiasm, it produced an elevation of feeling such as led the cov- 
enanters into battle, on the moors of Scotland, with a sneer upon 
their lips, in scorn of all that mere human strength, or the weap- 
ons of worldly warfare, could accomplish against them. The 
same compound of moral and physical nerve, which enabled our 
foremothers to sleep quietly in their lonely houses, with the not 
improbable chance of being roused by the yells of the unsparing 
savage, whom their husbands and sons had gone far away to 
encounter, led these husbands and sons to march against the foe, 
unsustained by the pomp and circumstance of modern military 
movements, in small parties of twenty or thirty, through the si- 
lent paths of the unexplored forest, seeking an enemy that in 
numbers treble or quadruple their own, might be hid in this 
thicket, or that swamp, where they could not tell, till a volley 
ringing from their dark recesses should lay in the dust perhaps 
half of their little company, whose remnant must charge upon an 
unseen foe intrenched behind their natural fortifications of trees 
and bushes. But, in addition to these traits of firmness, our an- 
cestors were not wholly unconscious of ' the stern joy that war- 
riors feel,' and many were there among them, besides Slandish 
and Church, who stood in the way of peril as we might stand in 



37 

a summers breeze, enjoying the grateful excitement of its 
presence. 

With less, it may be, of fortitude and power of endurance, the 
second and third generations had, perhaps, greater love of ad- 
venture, and were easily induced to engage in military expedi- 
tions, to which they could not be considered as called by patri- 
otism or imperious sense of duty. The Dedham people partook 
largely of that spirit, and scarce an enterprise of importance was 
undertaken by the colony, in which this town was not numerous- 
ly represented. In 1741, an expedition against the Spanish 
West-India settlements was ordered by the English Government. 
Massachusetts furnished 500 men on that occasion, of whom but 
fd'ty ever returned, a fatal disease having swept off a large por- 
tion of the army.* Six men, from the South Parish alone of this 
town, were among those who perished. 

In 1745, Gov. Shirley projected an attack upon Louisburgh, 
a French *brt on the island of Cape Breton, near Nova Scotia. 
This fortification had been twenty-five years in building, and was 
deemed so strong and impregnable as to be called the Dunkirk 
of America. It was surrounded by a rampart of stone more than 
thirty feet high, and a ditch eighty feet wide. It mounted one 
hunched and forty-eight cannon and six mortars.§ The enter- 
prise seemed so rash that most of the colonies refused to join in 
it. Sir William Pepperel, who commanded the forces, had resi- 
ded in Dedham; and it was probably from a personal acquaint- 
ance thus formed that Mr. Balch, minister, of the South Parish, 
was induced to accompany him in the capacity of chaplain. 
Many of our citizens also served as soldiers. This undertaking, 
which astonished all Europe, was completely successful. It ena- 
bled Britain to purchase a peace with France. Yet such a bril- 

* Holmes' Annals. 
J Holmes' Annals, 



38 

iant exploit, ' planned by a lawyer, and executed by a merchant, 
at the head of a body of farmers and mechanics,' was too great 
to be simply admired; and is said to have excited envy and jeal- 
ousy in England towards the Colonies. When this fort was 
taken anew, by the British, [thirteen years afterwards, it was 
deemed so great an achievement, that the colors and other troph- 
ies were carried to England and deposited with great pomp in 
St. Paul's Cathedral; and a form of thanksgiving was ordered 
to be used in all the churches.|| 

In the last French war, from 1755 to 1763, a sufficient num- 
ber of Dedham people were out to have formed a very respecta- 
ble company by themselves. In a list of fifty-two men employed 
in that service, almost all of our ancient families may find their 
names represented; many of them more than once.* It is said 
that at this period one third of all the effective men in Massachu- 
setts were in some way engaged in the war.| 

During the first historical division which I have assumed, we 
beheld a community of foreigners, in whose minds the idea of 
home, that word of early days, was associated with different and 
far remote scenes. The second, embracing a whole century, 
from 1675 to 1775, exhibits the nonage of a young nation, sub- 
mitting with increasing impatience to the restraints of colonial 
guardianship. The third, upon which I shall not enter, is the 
history of an independent people. After the year 1700, the Ded- 
ham records are filled with evidences of those struggles which 

|| Holmes 1 Annals. 

* See Appendix. Communication from Hon. Wm. Ellis, containing the 
names of men engaged in military service at different periods, from Dedham. 

t Dr. Nath'l Ames, in his Almanac of 1756 speaks thus of the army : 
' Behold our camp ! from fear, from Vice refined, 
Not of the Filth, but Flower of human kind ! 
Mothers their Sons, Wives lend their Husbands there ! 
Brethren, ye^have^our Hearts, our Purse, our Prayer.' 



39 

always attend the dismemberment of an overgrown town, during 
the process of" separating and defining the new corporations that 
spring up within its limits. Besides Medfield and Wrentham, 
Dedham gave birth to Needham, Bellingham, Walpole, Frank- 
lin, Dover and Natic* After many and long efforts to stretch 
the pastoral wing of a single church over the remaining limits of 
the town, and to distribute the advantages of education, by send- 
ing a circuit school to hold its sessions in different neighbor- 
hoods, distinct parishes were at length formed; a measure which 
contributed much to the harmony of the town. 

It is proper to extend our reminiscences to those public events 
of a civil nature, in which the people of this place have taken a 
part, and are entitled to a share of whatever honour may be at- 
tached to them. 

There is something in the meagre account that has come down 
to us of the first pastor of this town extremely puzzling. A no- 
ted man he undoubtedly was, and for a long period ; yet his pri- 
vate history is almost wholly lost. He is represented as re- 
markable for his mild and gentle temperament, yet he was con- 
stantly placed in the front rank, on occasions requiring energy 
and spirit as well as discretion. At the first great trial of the 
firmness of this Colony in sustaining her liberties and asserting 
her rights, when in f 646 the Long Parliament was inclined to en- 
courage appeals from the authorities here, and a factious party 
in New England attempted to subvert the charter and introduce 
a general governor from abroad; J at this juncture, the Gen. Court 
having called upon the Clergy for advice and assistance, the El- 
ders of all the Churches met for consultation, and selected Mr. 

• Worthington's Hist. 

^ There were attempts made in 1635, and also in 1638 to revoke the char- 
ter, but the people seem not to have been then very apprehensive of losing 
their rights. 



40 

Allin to present the result of their deliberations. 'We conceive,' 
(says he in the report,) 'that we have, by our patent, full and am- 
ple power of choosing all officers that shall command and rule 
over us, — of making all laws and rules of our obedience, — and a 
full and final determination of all cases in the administration of 
justice — that no appeals or other ways of interrupting our pro- 
ceedings do lie against us ; and if the Parliament should be less 
inclinable to us, we must wait upon Providence for the preserva- 
tion of our just liberties.'* Had the measures which struck at 
the very life and foundation of the rising Commonwealth suc- 
ceeded, (says a late historian,)! the whole tenor of American 
history would have been changed. Fortunately, through the 
firmness of the General Court and Clergy, and the prudence of 
Mr. Winslow, who was sent to England on a commission by the 
Colony, the danger was averted, and those who had appealed 
from our Government were compelled to humble themselves 
before it.[| 

These troubles had been occasioned mainly by religious dif- 
ferences, and it was deemed expedient to summon a Synod for 
their adjustment. Here Mr. Allin, who seems to have been a 
leading mind through the whole of this period, was called on to 
preach; and gave, according to Winthrop, out of Acts 15th, ' a 
very godly, learned and particular handling of near all the doc- 
trines and applications to that subject, with a clear discovery 
and refutation of such errors, objections, and scruples, as had 
been raised about it by some young heads in the country. '§ At 
this convention was framed the famous Cambridge Platform, 

* Winthrop. 

| Bancroft. 

|| Mr. Allin advanced the money to pay the expenses of this embassy. See 
Appendix N. 

v Winthrop's Hist. 






41 

which, for a long period, was considered as the religious consti- 
tution of the New England Colonies. 

When sundry complaints against the Colony again endanger- 
ed its charter, after the accession of Charles II. to the throne of 
England, and it became necessary to send out the celebrated 
John Norton and Simon Bradstreet, ' to take off all scandal 
and objections, and to see that nothing was done that might be 
prejudicial to the charter,' the business talents of Eleazer Lusher 
were put in requisition in preparing their instructions and pro- 
viding funds for meeting their expenses. In connection with 
them and some others, he had been engaged during a recess of 
the Legislature, in drawing up a declaration of the rights of the 
Colony, which was afterwards adopted by the Court; and now 
he was on a committee to whom the whole arrangement of this 
important embassy seems to have been entrusted His hand- 
writing, with which every person who has examined our early 
state papers must be familiar, may be found in many of the acts, 
reports and resolutions, of that and other periods.* The doings 
of Norton and Bradstreet did not please the people. They were 
charged with being ' too compliant,' with having ' laid the found- 
ation of ruin to all our liberties,' and it was strongly intimated 
by some of the malcontents, that Mr. Allin, meek and gentle as 
he is represented to be, would have done better in that service. § 

The next great crisis in the liberties of the Colony, occurred 
when Randolph, ' the evil genius of New England,' was engaged 
in those hostile measures which resulted in the subversion of the 
charter. The case grew desperate. Many were discouraged. 
Gov. Bradstreet, and some others, were for making a merit of 
necessity and submitting to the encroachments of the Biitish 

* Hutchinson —In 16G6, 500 acres of land near Sudbury were by order of 
the Court laid out to ' the worshipful Eleazer Lusher, as a reward for his 
public services. Col. Rec. 

$ Hutchinson , vol. 1 , p. 222, note. See Appendix 0. 
6 



42 

Government. Another party, with the Deputy Governor Pan- 
forth, were for adhering to the charter according to their con- 
struction of it, and ' leaving the event.''* Here was the origin of 
the two parties, Patriots and Prerogative men, or, as they would 
now be called, Whigs and Tories, between whom, says Minot in 
his history of Massachusetts, controversy seldom intermitted, and 
was never ended until the separation of the two countries. Dan- 
iel Fisher, the representative from Pedliam, then speaker of the 
house, was the leader of the Patriots among the Deputies. He 
was one of the four whose impeachment, says Randolph in a 
letter to the Earl of Clarendon, ' trill make the whole faction Iron- 
ble.'S, 

Then follows the third remarkable period in the history of 
American resistance to arbitrary power. The charter was dis- 
solved in 1686, and soon after Sir Edmund Andros was appoint- 
ed Governor. His administration was grievous oppression.^ 
In 1689, an indirect rumor having arrived, by the way of Vir- 
ginia, of the landing of the Prince of Orange in England, and 
the consequent revolution in the government there, the people, 
without waiting for a confirmation, determined to take its truth 
for granted, and simultaneously set about accomplishing a revo- 
lution of their own. On the morning of the 18th of April the town 
of Boston was in arms. The Governor and Council were seized 
and confined, and the old magistrates reinstated. The country 
people came into town in such rage and heat, as made all trem- 
ble to think what would follow. Nothing would satisfy them but 
that the t Governor must be bound in chains or cords and put in 
a more secure place; || and for their quiet he was guarded by 

* Hutchinsoi.'s Hist. 
{ Hutchinson's Hist. — note. 

X He declared the title to lands here to have beconre void by the dissolu- 
tion of the Charter, and exacted heavy sums for the repurchase of them. 
|| Hutchinson's Hist. 






43 

them to the Fort. Whoso hand was on the collar of (hat pris- 
oner, leading him through the excited crowd, at once securing 
him from escape and guarding him from outrage? It was the 
hand of Daniel Fisher of Dedham;* aye ' a second Daniel come 
to judgment,' a sou of the former, and heir of his energetic ar- 
dor in the cause of freedom.^ 

As the last struggle against foreign imposition and despotic 
exaction approached, and the American people were stimulating 
and encouraging each other for the final effort; when the sunny 
shores of independence were in view, but a dark and bloody 
stream of contest and revolution lay between, into which they 
were preparing to plunge, no town in the country went beyond 
Dedham in the tirm and decided measures proposed and sustain- 
ed by its people. Yon monumental stone, once surmounted by 
a comely pillar aud patriotic bust, consecrated to Liberty and 
Liberty's friend, will with its renewed inscription this day de- 
clare to the passers by, what spirit animated them in 1766. f 
The town records overflow with patriotic resolutions; and so dif- 
ficult was it for the citizens here to comprehend how an individ- 
ual of common understanding could make use of tea, after the 
odious attempts to raise a revenue from it, that, in one of their 
resolves, they close a storm of indignation and contempt, direct- 
ed partly against the article itself, and partly against those who 
had not self denial enough to abandon it — by pronouncing its 
use an act of ' flagrant — stupidity. y \\ 

* Wo rtlii niton's Hist. 

§ Had the rumor of the revolution in England, which was a very uncer- 
tain one, proved incorrect, the consequences would have been serious 
to those engaged in this revolt. Even as it was, the British government took 
the matter into consideration ; but it was deemed rather absurd to punish 
the Americans f«r following an example which had been set by themselves. 

t This Stone was the pedestal of a column erected in honour of William 
Pitt, Earl of Chatham, as a Ivutimony of gratitude for hie efforts in behalf of 
the Colonies. 

U Town Records, 1774, 



11 

The details of that interesting period cannot be comprehended 
within the scope of a discourse intended to be so general as this. 
There are annual occasions consecrated to the commemoration 
of that national declaration of independence and assertion of the 
rights of man, whose prototype had often been proclaimed in the 
unostentatious meetings of humble towns, and entered upon the 
pages of their simple records. 

Samuel Dexter, known in history as the elder, but to us as 
the second of that name, then guided the councils of the Ded- 
ham people at home, and represented their views in the General 
Court. His name stands by the side of those of Otis, Bowdoin, 
the two Adamses, Havvley, Hancock, and Quincy, the most ac- 
tive and influential men, applying their combined talents in sup- 
port of charter rights, and the liberties of the people.* In this 
association of patriotic spirits, his pen was among the busiest, 
and his vigorous mind among the most earnest in controverting 
arbitrary doctrines by the force of reason, and enlightening the 
people on the subject of their rights and capacities. In the same 
honorable company he received the proscription of the royal 
Governor, who more than once was called upon to say, that by 
his Majesty's command he negatived the election of Samuel 
Dexter to the Council. f 

On the 6th of September 1774, a convention of Delegates 
from every town and district in the county of Suffolk, was as- 
sembled at the house of Richard Woodward, in Dedham, ' to 
deliberate and determine upon all such matters as the distressed 
circumstances of the Colony may require.'! To this grave As- 
sembly, met upon its own soil, for the discussion of such weighty 
matters, the town sent five delegates. Those who now, or in 

* Bradford's Hist, of Mass. 

j Appendix P. 

| This Convention was adjourned to Milton. 



45 

after times, shall examine the journal of tho earliest Continental 
Congress in search of the first recorded resolution to try the is- 
sue with Great Britain, if need be at the point of the sword, will 
find the doings of this Convention entered at length upon its 
pages, appearing as the medium through which the object of 
their assembling was first presented to their deliberations, and 
serving as the basis of their subsequent proceedings. The house 
of Richard Woodward most of us remember. In it was born 
Fisher Ames. Was it also the birth place of the American 
revolution? 

There are a few yet living, some perhaps may be present, 
who can recal the excitement of the scenes that followed, of 
gloom without and light within. We at this day can hardly re- 
alize the force of that zeal, which, raging in the bosoms of the 
brave, woke unwonted valor in the hearts of the timid, and kin- 
dled woman's milder fortitude into masculine daring. 

We cannot foresee the events that lie hid in the undeveloped 
future. Occasions may arise when the American people will 
again be called upon to sacrifice comfort, possessions, life, upon 
the altar of freedom. I trust we shall not be found wanting in 
generous devotion whenever brought to the test. Yet hardly 
again can Ave expect to see the whole community animated by 
the same spirit, when from every hamlet in the land shall flow 
an equal stream of fervid enthusiasm, uniting in one great tor- 
rent of solemn earnest resolution. We are in the manhood of our 
political existence. The simplicity of childhood, perhaps the ar- 
dent generosity of youth, are past. A calmer balancing of consid- 
erations, colder calculations of interest, will hereafter mingle with 
the best and purest services in the cause of our country. It is 
not given to nations any more than to individuals to experience a 
second period of unsophisticated impulses. No overgrown, vo- 
luptuous, or even populous nation, could conduct to successful 



4G 

completion a revolution in favor of liberty. This continent, now 
teeming with its rich harvest of progressive population, may 
hereafter be made desolate, and another career of renewed 
growth be begun in the freshness of youth; but that will be a 
new people, the subjects of a new history. 

The 19th of April found the Dedham people prepared with 
five companies of militia or infantry, and an association of vete- 
rans, who had done service twenty years before against the 
French. These last, roused by the familiar sounds of war 
which had stirred their young blood at Ticonderoga, Fort Ed- 
ward, and Fort William Henry, were ready now to peril what 
was left of life in a more sacred contest. 

The news of the battle of Lexington reached the village a lit- 
tle after nine o'clock in the morning. It came in by the way of 
Needham and Dover, having in its course sent off all who could 
bear arms, as by an electric impulse, to the scene of action, hur- 
rying them towards Lexington, as if the foe were driving instead 
of attracting them. The companies here, when enough could 
be mustered of their numbers to form a plattoon, hastened to the 
combat, leaving others to follow, in squads of half a dozen, as 
they happened to collect together. Capt. Joseph Guild led the 
minute men, and meeting with one on the road who declared the 
alarm to be false, he seized him with his own hand, gagged him 
and left him under the charge of one of his men, lest the report 
should reach more willing ears and find readier credence. 
Lieut. George Gould, Capt. William Bullard, Lieut. William 
Ellis, and Capt. Ebenezer Battle, commanded the other compa- 
nies. But the most interesting spectacle was presented by the 
corps of veterans, the relics of former conflicts, who assembled 
on the green in front of this house. Here they were met by the 
Rev. Mr. Gordon of Roxbury, who had left his home from ap- 
prehensions of personal danger. He, ascending the steps of the 



47 

ancient meeting house, invoked the blessing of Heaven on their 
enterprise. The grey headed warriors then began their march, 
leaving the town, almost literally, without a male inhabitant be- 
low the age of seventy and above that of sixteen. How could 
the event of that day have been other than it was, when the 
sanctifying influence of religious trust consecrated the courage 
of the patriot and the soldier. We have the authority of Wash- 
ington for saying, that, had the retreat of the British troops been 
delayed one half hour, they must have been totally cut off.* 

Of those who had an opportunity to participate in the action, 
one from Dedham, Elias Haven, was killed, and one, Israel Ev- 
erttt, wounded. He who stood by the side of Elias Haven when 
he fell, yet survives, at the venerable age of ninety.']; 

We have then arrived at the generation of the living. As 
memory begins to take the place of history, events multiply, and 
incidents crowd upon each other too fast to be properly noticed 
on this occasion, more appropriate to the recollections of remo- 
ter times. I have reached the limits within which I intended to 
confine myself. Yet gladly would I dwell upon later events not 
less worthy of commemoration. The struggle for liberty, whose 
beginning the people of this place so earnestly encouraged, they 
did not forget to sustain with their resources and personal servi- 
ces. Nor in more peaceful days that followed the achievement 
of national independence, have there been wanting men whose 
talents have reflected honor upon the home of their ancestors. 

Can I speak of Fisher Ames and not rouse an echo from 
'every log-cabin beyond the mountains'! With us he lived, 
with us he died, but it is not for us to appropriate the rich patri- 
mony of his reputation. His eloquence and his fame are the in- 
heritance of his country. The name of Samuel Dexter, first 

* Washington's Letters. 

{ Mr. Aaron Wincing of Dover, since dead. 



48 

connected with him who one hundred years ago stood in this 
place and gathered up the reminiscencies of the previous centu- 
ry,;}; has in our own time heen associated with commanding elo- 
quence, and intellectual vigor, rarely excelled.* 

Citizens of Dedham ! you will find in your history much to 
gratify a just pride, much to excite honorable emulation. By in- 
telligent and godly ancestors was this town planted ; by a manly 
and virtuous race has it been nourished and sustained. Its sons 
have fought the battles of their country — they have led in its 
councils. At no time, in no manner, have they failed to contrib- 
ute an honorable share of the talent, the patriotism, the domes- 
tic virtues, which created and have built up this great republic. 

May such be the verdict that posterity shall pass upon us and 
our descendants, when the close of another century shall summon 
a new generation to a new commemoration. 

£ The Rev. Samuel Dexter preached a Discourse partly historical at the 
close of the first Century from the oiganization of the Church, which was 
printed. Appendix Q. 

» Sam'l Dexter, late Sec'y at War. 



NOTE A. Sec page 10. 

There having been some difference of opinion in regard to the 
most proper time for commemorating the settlement of Dedham, 
I have put down all the events and circumstances which have 
come within my knowledge relating thereto, and tending to elu- 
cidate the subject. They are as follows. 

About the middle of May 1635, the inhabitants of Watertown 
and Roxbury had leave to remove whither they pleased, within 
the jurisdiction of Massachusetts. Colony Records, 

Winthrop's Journ. vol. 1, p. 160. 

Next, under date of Sept. 2, 1635, Col. Record, we find, ' It 
is ordered that there shall be a plantacon settled aboute two 
miles above the falls of Charles river, on the northeast side 
thereof, to have ground lying to it on both sides the river, both 
upland and meadow, to be laid out hereafter as the Court shall 
appoint.' Also, ' Ordered that there shall be a plantation at 
Musketaquid to be called Concord, &c.' It is to these orders 
that Winthrop refers in his journal, Sept. 1635, where he says, 

' At this Court there was granted to Mr. Buckley and 

merchant, and about 12 families more, to begin a town at Muske- 
taquid, &c. Jl toam teas also begun above the falls of Charles Riv- 
er.' Winth. vol. 1, p. 167. 

The next notice of the future town of Dedham is in the Col. 
Record, March 5, 1635. ' Ens. Jennison, Mr. Danforth, and 
Mr. Wm. Spencer, are deputed to set out the bounds of the new 
plantacon above Charles River against all other towns that join 
upon it. And each town is permitted to send one of their mem- 
bers to accompany them — also they are to view the meadow 

7 



50 

aboute the blue lulls, to inform the next Gen. Court to what towns 
it may most conveniently bo layd.' Here it should be remem- 
bered that the year by the old method of division began on the 
25th of March. 

On 'the 13th of the 2d month (Ma) I 1636, ' the above named 
persons make their report. ' Wee whose names are under 
written being appointed by the Gen. Court, to set out the bounds 
of the new towne upon Charles ryver, do agree that the bounds 
of the towne shall run from the markt tree by Charles ryver on 
the northwest side of Roxbury bounds one mile and a half north- 
east, and from thence three miles northwest, and so from thence 
live miles southwest — and on the. southwest side ol Charles Ryver 
from the southeast side of itoxbuiy bounds to inn Four miles on 
a southwest line, reserving the proprieties to several persons 
granted by special order of Court.' 

WILLIAM SPENCER. 
NICHOLAS DANFORTH. 
WILLIAM JENNISON. 

The proprieties here mentioned were probably grants which 
had been made by the Court to individuals who had idled public 
offices, as extra compensation. The custom was common. In 
1634, John Haynes, Thos. Dudley, Samuel Dudley, and Daniel 
Dennison had lands granted them above the falls on the easterly 
side of Charles River. Col. Records. These lands were after- 
wards made a part of Dedham, being purchased by the inhabi- 
tants. The persons above named were all men of great distinc- 
tion in the Colony. 

We now come to the town records. 

The first leaf of the earliest book is missing, but it is alluded 
to as containing a copy of the petition to the Gen. Court for a 
confirmation of their grant, and the Court order thereon. The 
outside of the second leaf is numbered page 3d. The word Con- 
tentment is written at the top near one corner, but has lines drawn 
through it and the word Dedham written above it. There is 
then the record of a meeting headed ' The loth August 163fc, 
being ye 6th month. Assembled whose names are hereunder 
written,' (then follows a list of 18 names) ' and with one accord 
agreed upon these conclusions following.' These relate to the 
kind of persons that shall be admitted to the Society — to the giv- 
ing of information concerning applicants for admission — .he im- 
position of fines for the non-observance of rules and the freedom 
of all waters in the town for fishing. It is then added, ' Got out 
and measured by Thomas Bartlett, Lotts for several men as fol- 
loweth ' — then are named seven men, to whom are granted twelve 
acres each. ' All these confirmed at this meeting, and are abut- 
ted as by the particulars in full appe'th.' Grants are then made 



to several other persons; among the resl to Edward Jtlleyn, of 
island and meadow, &.c. The record of this meeting occupies tho 
3d and 4th pages. On the 5th pain 1 , the word Contentment is 
written and erased, and Dedham written as before. The head- 
ing is ' 163< 29th of ye 6th month, called August.' Assem- 
bled, &.c. 18 ji rsons named ; but not all the same individuals as 
before. ! [ere follow some more ' conclusions. 5 Such as that 
single men shall have but eight acres for a house-lot, &c. and 
that 'the next meeting shall be upon ye c 2<] day of ye next month, 
at ye 6th hour in ye morning, at .John Gay's house.' This rec- 
ord occupies one page. The next record, on the 6th page, is 
headed, ' The 6th of ye 7th month, called September, 1636. As- 
sembled, &c.' 19 names. ' All these being assembled, subscri- 
bed their names unto a petition unto ye General Courte, for con- 
tinuation of our Giant — to be comprehended into our towne 
whatsoever is left from all former grants on that side of Charles 
River, and five miles square upon ye other side of ye said River, 
with certeyne privileges of exemption from country charges for 
four years. 1 ' Confirmed unto Edward Alleyn that little Island, 
&c. before granted at ye first meeting.' An order is passed about 
mending 'ye foule swarnpe;' and it is mentioned that after the 
meeting was dissolved, Robt. Feke subscribed his name, and 
Thos. Hastings and John Huggen did the like in Boston. ' So 
that all the names of those who are admitted to our Society are 
subscribe 1 thereto. The copy of which petition is in ye begin- 
ning of this booke, as aiso the Court order upon the same.' 

A copy of this petition and order was found on a leaf appa- 
rently torn from the Records, at the house of John Bullard, Esq. 
together with other valuable papers hereafter referred to. 

On the I Oth September, 1(1.^6, the General Court ordered, 
' that the plantacion to be settled above the falls of Charles Ryv- 
er, shall have three yeares immunity from publike charges, as 
Concord had, to be accounted from the first of Maye next, and 
the name of the said plantacion shall be Dedham. To injoye all 
that "Lands on the Easterly and Southerly side of Charles River, 
not formerly granted unto any Towne or particular person. — 
And also to have five miles square on ye other side of the River.' 

Col. Record. 

There is the record of another meeting in September, one on 
the 25th November, and one on the 31st December, at which 
various regulations are adopted, and grants of lands made. In 
the record of the last meeting we find this resolution: ' Whereas 
certeyne of our company are gone up to inhabite this winter at our 
towne of Dedham, and that other materials are not well to be 
had for the closing in of their houses in such a season, we do 
therefore give liberty only for excry such inhabitant abovesaid 



52 

to make use of clapboards to any parte of his house for his pres- 
ent necessity, &.C.' After two more meetings, one in January 
and the other in February, we come to the record of a meeting 
on the 23d of the first month, called March, 1636-7, which be- 
gins thus, ' The first Assembly in Dedham,' &.c. proceeding to 
name those who were present. 

I should infer from the foregoing facts, that after leave was 
given, in May 1635, for the inhabitants of Watertown and Rox- 
bury to remove, this place having been examined and found fa- 
vorable for a town, notice was given to the General Court, which 
caused the order first quoted, September 2, 1635; that after the 
laying out of the town by the Committee, as appears by their re- 
port of K3th May, 1636, certain persons, who intended to locate 
themselves here, came together August 15th, 1636, for the pur- 
pose of a mutual understanding, and to begin the distribution of 
village lots: That on the 6th September, 1636, being ready to 
proceed with their settlement, they requested of the General 
Court a confirmation and enlargement of their grant, the ap- 
pointment of a constable, and an immunity from public charges, 
as was usual at the beginning of new towns. The act of the le- 
gislature, in consequence of that petition, 10th September, 1636, 
may fairly enough be considered as creating the town, the com- 
pany of settlers being then first legally organized. 

It would also seem from expressions in the records, that the 
earlier meetings were not held upon the spot, but probably in 
Watertown; the first Assembly or town meeting in Dcdham be- 
inc on the 23d of March, the last day but one of the year 1636. 
The place being so near to Watertown and Roxbury as to admit 
of going backwards and forwards from one to the other in the 
same day, the people would be likely to build their houses; and 
make comfortable arrangements, before moving their families. 
When a majority of the company were established, the books, in 
which their transactions were recorded, would naturally follow 
them. Several of the persons, named as present at the first 
meetings, did not reside in Dedham for some time afterwards, 
and some never came at all. The gradual manner in which the 
settlement of the town proceeded will explain why no distinct ac- 
count of its commencement is to be found in history. Had a 
body of men emigrated at once from some other place and loca- 
ted themselves here, as was the case at Concord and other re- 
mote towns, the fact would have been noticed in the annals of 
the time. 

There are two circumstances which, unless explained, indicate 
the presence of inhabitants here at an earlier date than other- 
wise appears. The first is the fact that in the Register of births 
and deaths we find this record — ' John, son of John Balden and 



53 

Joanna his wife, was born 21st of the 4ih month (June) 1635. 
Mary, daughter of John and Hannah Dwite, born 25th of ye 5th 
month (July) 1635.' The other cireumstanee is the impression 
of Mr. Worthington that he has seen a book containing a record 
of the meeting of twelve men September 1st, 1635. 

With regard to the births it may be remarked, that no record 
was kept of them till the end of the year 1642, when Michael 
Powell was ' deputed to Register the Births, Burials and Mar- 
riages, in our Towne according to the order of Court.' (Town 
Records 6th of 12th mo. 1642.) The date of the births of chil- 
dren then in town might be entered in the book, without re- 
gard to the place where they were born; especially if no record 
had been made of them elsewhere. Moreover, it is hardly prob- 
able that as the. requisite permission to remove was not given 
till the middle or latter part of Mav, 1635, parents, expecting 
the immediate birth of children, would leave their homes without 
necessity, to be the pioneers of a new settlement. 

The book which 31 r. Worthington speaks of, cannot now be 
found, and I do not meet with any one else who remembers to 
have seen it. When I first obtained the town records for exam- 
ination, a part of the first volume was separated from the rest, 
corresponding in thickness to the book which Mr. Worthington 
describes. Some leaves of this had been turned back out of 
place, bringing them into such a position as apparently to con- 
stitute the beginning of the book. The first of these was a blank 
leaf. The second, winch bore the page mark (159) in very pale 
ink, purported to be ' a Register or particular description of all 
such Lands or Letts graunted out unto several men by virtue of 
a Free grante of our said plantacon made unto us, by ye Hon. 
Courte Generall houlden at Newtowne the 2d of ye 7th month, 
1635, and confirmed with enlargement at Boston ye 10th of ye 
7th month, 1636.' Then followed a list of grants to sundry per- 
sons, eleven in all, most of which are partly erased. By turning 
to the Book of grants, we find the same entered there, and the 
record continued. From the position of this leaf, it had the ap- 
pearance of being the first record, and from the obscurity of the 
writing, a mistake might arise as to the date. I was at first un- 
der misapprehension myself in regard to it, supposing it to cor- 
respond with the passage in Winthrop's journal before referred 
to, which, under date of September 1635, says ' a town is begun 
above the fads of Charles river.' I mention this as possibly ac- 
counting for Mr. Worthington 's impression of another book. 

The length of the foregoing remarks is justified by the fact, 
that owing to their shattered and decaying condition, the disjecta 
membra of our early Town Records may not at a future time be 
easily placed in their proper connection. 



54 
NOTE B. See page 14. 

I am informed by the Hon. William Ellis, that according to 
tradition, the first houses were built upon the rising ground on 
the north side of Little River, or Dwight's Brook, in front of the 
present bridge. The village lots, however, were laid out upon 
the highways which I have described; forming two sides of a 
triangle, between which were situated the Meeting-house and 
Burial ground. 

The lane to the present landing place at the river was laid out 
in 1705. 

NOTE C. See page 16. 

I trust I shall not be thought to allude to these matters too 
lightly, or in a manner not sufficiently respectful to the Pilgrim 
Fathers. My object is to present such a picture of the period, as 
will bring to view not merely their piety, energy and self sacri- 
fice, universally known and admitted, but those less heroic traits, 
not so often commented upon, a knowledge of which is necessa- 
ry to a clear conception of their character and the state of soci- 
ety among them. Their chief enjoyments were religious exer- 
cises; their principal discussions were upon theological subjects. 
The varieties of human temperament will display themselves, let 
the prevailing tone of society be what it may, and the sacred- 
ness of the topics did not prevent a considerable infusion of hu- 
mor and satire from mingling with their most serious debates. 
The puritans, instead of being always solemn and austere, had, 
many of them, a strong humorous tendency. Besides the quaint- 
ness of their style, in itself a species of humor — a play upon 
words, and a laboring for odd conceits, which would seem very 
undignified at the present day, were common in the writings of 
the most learned and grave divines. The familiar manner of 
quoting the bible, and applying passages from scripture, custom- 
ary two hundred years ago, would now seem very profane and 
irreverent. 

During the yeai's 1636, 1637, and 1638, the Antinomian con- 
troversy was at its height. Even some of the principal magis- 
trates and clergy began to incline towards the tenets of Mrs. 
Hutchinson and Mr. Wheelwright; and the question whether 
man is to be saved by grace or by works, with its various corol- 
laries, was agitated in every meeting public or social. Win- 
throp says, in 1636, 'the differences in said points of religion 
increased more and more, so that all men's mouths were full of 
them.' Vol. 1, p. 213. And Hutchinson remarks, ' The town 



and country were distracted with these subtleties, and every man 
and woman, who had brains enough to form some imperfect con- 
ception of them, inferred and maintained some other point, such 
as these, a man is justified before he believes; faith is no cause 
of justification, &c.' Hutch. Hist. vol. 1, p. 57. We may there- 
fore fairly enough presume that the Dedham people, after Lec- 
ture, would be thus engaged. 

I insert some lines by Johnson, the historian, written in honor 
of Mr. Wilson, pastor of Boston, he having encountered opposi- 
tion from the followers of Mr. Wheelwright, who in turn had to 
suffer for adherence to their leader. 

; Thee they deprave, thy ministry despise ; 
By thy thick utterance seek, to call men back 
From hearing thee : but Christ for thee did rise, 
And turned the icheel-righl over them to crack.' 

A specimen at once of the poetry and puns of that period. 

Books intended to be serious and religious were published in 
London not far from the time referred to, with the following ti- 
tles: ' A most delectable sweet and perfumed nosegay for God's 
saints to smell at.' ' A pair of bellows to blow off the dust cast 
upon John Fry;' ' The snuffers of divine love.' The author of 
a work on charity entitles his book, ' Hooks and eyes for believ- 
er's breeches.' Another called his labors ' High heeled shoes 
for dwarfs in holiness.' Another, ' Crumbs of comfort for the 
chickens of the Covenant.' A Quaker published ' A sigh of 
sorrow for the sinners of Zion, breathed out of a hole in the wall 
of an earthern vessel known among men by the name of Samuel 
Fish.' About the same time were published ' The spiritual mus- 
tard pot;' ' A shot at the Devil's head quarters through the tube 
of the cannon of the covenant.' ' Reaping hook well tempered 
for the stubborn ears of the coming crop; or, Biscuits baked in 
the oven of charity, carefully conserved for the Chickens of the 
Church, the Sparrows of the Spirit, and the Sweet Swallows of 
Salvation.' ' Seven Sobs of a Sorrowful Soul for Sin, or the 
Penitential Psalms of the Princely Prophet David, whereunto 
are also annexed William Huinnis' handful of Honeysuckles and 
divers Godly and pithy ditties, now newly augmented.' 



NOTE D. See page 20. 

A Blacksmith seems to have been the first mechanic in town. 
He was furnished with tools at the public expense. There are 
also mentioned, very early, a Joiner, a Wheelwright, a Brick- 



5G 

maker, and a maker of wooden ware, who all receive from the 
town some facilities for carrying on their hnsiness. In 1656, 
the subject of setting up iron works was discussed, but probably 
the ore was not found in sufficient abundance. There was a 
strong expectation among the emigrants to this country of find- 
ing mines of precious and other metals, and a good deal of labor 
was employed in the search here, as well as elsewhere. As an 
inducement to those thus employed, it was voted, that a grant of 
any mine, which might be discovered, should be made to the 
finder, he paying ten per cent, of the profits to the use of the 
town. In the preamble to this vote, it is stated, that ' seeing 
amongst other things wherewith God blessed his people Israel, 
he exposeth divers metals for their encouragement, Deut. 8, 9, 
and seeing that already amongst ourselves a plenty of iron and 
some lead is discovered, it appears to us that he hath afforded 
us also a land furnished with such blessings; and also, consid- 
ering the barrenness of a great part of our town, doth give U3 
particular hopes thereof, &c.' 

In 1G47, John Dwight and Francis Chickoring gave notice of 
their * hopes of a mine' near certain ponds, thirteen miles from 
town, probably at Wrentham, claiming the right, &c. Similar 
notice was given of a mine on the north side of Charles river, 
'over against Mr. Cooke's farm.' Another notice was given 1649, 
by the Pastor, Mr. Allin, and Eleazer Lusher, of a mine ' of 
metal or other mineral, near the Great Playne, &c.' Joshua 
Fisher and Daniel Fisher also, of one near the same place; and 
Anthony Fisher, of a mine ' near where the Neponset river di- 
vides.' In 1637, Abraham Shawe had a grant from the General 
Court of half the benefit of the coals or iron stone, which might 
be found on any common ground at the Country's disposing.' 



NOTE E. See page 20. 

The erection of mills, for grinding corn and sawing timber, 
was one of the first things that engaged the attention of the set- 
tlers in Dedham. In 1636, Abraham Shawe undertook to erect 
a mill on Charles river, probably on that part of the stream 
which is now in the town of Dover. He soon died, and the lands, 
granted to him in aid of the enterprise, were offered to any one 
who would accomplish the same object. No one, however, for 
several years, was induced to make the attempt. In 1639, it 
having been discovered that a water power might be obtained by 
means of a canal from Charles river, through ' Purchase Mead- 
ow,' to East Brook, the work was immediately begun, and in- 
ducements offered to citizens or others that might be disposed to 



57 

erect mills thereon. One John Elderkin was the first who avail- 
ed himself of these proposals; and grants of land were made to 
him accordingly. In 1642, he sold one half of all his rights to 
Nathaniel Whiting, and the other half to Mr. Allin, the pastor, 
Nathaniel Aldis and John Dwight. In 1649, Nathaniel Whi- 
ting purchased the interest of the other owners. In 1652, he 
made sale of the mill and all his town rights to John Dwight, 
Francis Chickering, Joshua Fisher and John Morse, for £250. 
In 1653. he repurchased the same. In 1664, a new corn mill 
being deemed necessary, leave was given to Daniel Pond and 
Ezra Morse to erect one above that of Nathaniel Whiting, on 
the same stream, to be finished before the 24th of June the fol- 
lowing year. In 1666, Nathaniel Whiting, who had remonstra- 
ted against the establishment of the new mill without effect, coin- 
plained of damage therefrom to his own works, and in 1667 he 
commenced a suit against Ezra Morse, as obstructing the water 
to the injury of his mill. This suit did not result in his favor. 
In 1669, Nathaniel Whiting having made a new water course 
which crossed the highway leading to the new mill, some com- 
plaint was made, and both he and Ezra Morse were summoned 
before the Selectmen, and being advised with, agreed to live in 
peace and not interfere with the rights of each other. 

There were, however, frequent complaints on the part of Na- 
thaniel Whiting. In 1674, a committee was chosen to regulate 
the- water at the upper dam. Complaints being renewed, in 
1677, the town resolved to do nothing farther about it. So the 
matter stood till May 1699, when it was thought advisable to re- 
move Morse's dam, and let the water run in its ancient channel. 
As a compensation for this measure, which seems to have been 
suggested by the owner himself, a grant of forty acres was made 
to Ezra Morse, ' near Neponsit river, at the old saw mill, or at 
Everett's Plain, where he may find it most to his satisfaction; 
provided that the town may be otherwise provided with a mill to 
their full satisfaction.' In 1700, the Whiting mill was burned, 
and the town loaned £20 for one year, ' without any use or rent,' 
to Timothy Whiting, who then held the mill seat, as aid towards 
the erection of another mill. 

The subject of ' setting up a saw mill ' had been agitated from 
the year 1652 to 1658, when on the 4th March 1658-9, a long 
written agreement was entered into between the town and Elea- 
zer Lusher and Joshua Fisher, in which these persons engaged 
to erect a saw mill on Neponset river, near the Cedar Swamp, 
to be completed before June 24, 1660. This was afterwards, hi 
1674, in possession of Thomas Clap. In 1672, Robert Cross- 
man undertook to build a mill at Wollomonopeag, (Wrentham.) 
In 1678, Ezra Morse had leave to cut timber to build a saw mill 

8 



58 

on 'Hawes' brook, in the way leading to the South meadow,' 
and, in 1681, was allowed to make a reservoir for the same, on 
the town lands. In 1682, Jona. Fairbanks and .James Draper 
asked leave to build a .falling mill below the coin mills on East 
brook, or mill creek, (as the whole stream is now called,) but 
the town thought proper to give the privilege to Nath'l Whiting, 
who was accordingly associated with .lames Draper in the pro- 
ject. In the permission given them, there was a proviso, that 
'if the town, at any time, see fit to set up a corn mill upon the 
place, they may do so, unless the persons aforesaid will do it at 
their own charge, to the town's content.' 

It is worthy of remark, that the descendants of Nath'l Whi- 
ting and Ezra Morse, have held the principal mill seats of the 
town, quite down to the present generation. The numerous 
branches of both of these respectable families, have always been 
among our most substantial citizens. 



NOTE F. See page 20. 

We are told by Winthrop, in his Journal, thatyVee schools were 
established at Boston, Roxbury, and divers other places, in 1645. 
It appears by the Records, that the same thing was done in Ded- 
ham, in 1644. 'The inhabitants, taking into consideration the 
necessity of providing some means for the education of youth in 
our said town, did with an unanimous consent, declare by vote 
their willingness to promote that worke, promising to put to their 
hands to provide maintenance for a free school in our said town.' 
They then vote £20 per annum, and appropriate certain lands for 
this purpose. T. R. 1st 11 mo. 1644. 

By a Court order, passed in 1642, the Selectmen of every town 
were required to see that the education of children was properly 
attended to. It was customary for the Selectmen to divide the 
town among themselves, each one having an eye to the children 
of a certain district. As an amusing instance of the orthography 
of some of these 'rude forefathers of the hamlet,' I insert an ex- 
tract from a small book, which seems to contain memoranda of 
the doings of the Selectmen, &c. afterwards transferred to the 
large book : — 

'It is agreed that the Selectmen doe take their corse to see the 
exseqution of the Court order consninge childring, viz. that we 
doe agree that two goe to gether when they goe to take account 
of the propheting of the youth.' 

In the year 1680, Dr. Win. Avery made a donation to the town 
of £60 for a latin school. Afterwards the town proposed to sell 
their school lands, and appropriate the proceeds to the instruc- 



50 

don of youth. This was done about the year 1700. What be- 
came of the funds, thus obtained, does not appear. It was prob- 
ably gradually expended. The second generation were less wil- 
ling to raise money for schools, than the first comers. 

NOTE G. See page 24. 
Views of the Pilgrims in regard to government, fyc. 

'It is yourselves who have called us to this office, and being 
called by you, we have our authority from God.' Winthrop's 
Speech in the Hiughain case, 1645. 

'Two distinct ranks we willingly acknowledge, from the light 
of nature and scripture ; the one of them called Princes, or No- 
bles, or Elders, (amongst whom gentlemen have their place,) 
the other the people. Hereditary dignity, or honours, we allow 
to the former, isx.: Hereditary liberty to the other, i^c' Reply 
to the demands of Lord Say, Lord Brooke, and other persons of 
quality, made as conditions of their removing to New England, 
1636. 

'Democracy I do not conceive that ever God did ordeyne as a 
fitt government, either for church or commonwealth. If the peo- 
ple be governors, who shall be governed ? As for Monarchy 
and Aristocracy, they are both of them clearly approoved and 
directed in scripture. 5 Letter from Mr. C0U011 to Lord Say and 
Seal, 1636. 

NOTE H. See page 24. 

The town voted to erect a tomb for their reverend pastor, and 
to pay the expenses of his funeral, which were always very con- 
siderable in case of ministers or magistrates. 

It was customary to purchase gold rings for the bearers, and 
white leather gloves for the ministers who were present. At the 
funeral of the Rev. Thomas Cobbett, of Ipswich, in 1685, among 
the articles provided were 32 gallons of wine, and a larger quan- 
tity of cider, with 104 pounds of sugar, and about 4 doz. gloves. 

In 1793, there was passed 'An Act to retrench extraordinary 
expences at funerals. ' 

At burials, nothing was read, nor any sermon made, but all 
the neighborhood came together by the tolling of the bell, and 
carried the dead solemnly to the grave, standing by while he was 
buried. See Hist, of Ipswich, by Rev. J. B. Felt. 

In 1637, the Gen. Court ordered that no cakes or buns should 
be made or sold, except for burials or weddings.* Col. Rec. 

* This licence having been extended to other public occasions was proba- 
bly the origin of what is called ' Town meeting cake.' 



60 
NOTE I. See page 26. 

It seems singular that a people situated as our forefathers 
were, in a rude wilderness, living, many of thern, in log houses, 
or dwellings scarcely superior, and above all professing the se- 
vere puritan character, should be subject to the charge of ex- 
travagance in their apparel. They lived, however, at a period 
when great parade of dress was usual, especially upon public oc- 
casions. They came here with their habits formed in this re- 
spect, and costly lace ruffles, worn by either sex, wrought fur- 
belows, silk or satin vests and breeches, supposed necessary to 
the dignity of the wearer, were not easily laid aside. 

In 1636, the Gen. Court ordered, 'that no person, after one 
month, shall make or sell any bone lace, or other lace, to be 
worn upon any garment or linnen, upon paine of 5s Sd the yard for 
every yard of such lace so made or set on. Nor shall any tay- 
lor set lace upon any garment ; provided, that binding, or small 
edging lace, may be used upon garments or linnen.' In 1639, 
the same law is repeated in substance, and it was further enact- 
ed, 'that hereafter no garment shall be made with short sleeves, 
whereby the nakedness of the arm may be discovered. And that 
hereatter no person whatsoever shall make any garment for weo- 
men, or any other sex, with sleeves more than half an ell wide 
in the widest part, and so proportionate for bigger or smaller per- 
sons. And for present reformation of immoderate great sleeves, 
and some other superfluities, which may easily be redressed with- 
out much prejudice or spoil of garments, as immoderate great 
breeches, knots of ryban, broad shoulder bands and rayles, silk 
rases, double ruffes, cuffes, &.c, — it is ordered, &c.' Slashed 
clothes, except one slash in each sleeve, and one in the back, 
embroidery, bands, crayles, gold and silver girdles, hat-bands, 
belts, cuffs, wings, beaver hats, and long hair, came under the 
ban of the law, in 1634. In 1675, there was a statute passed 
against periwigs, and 'the cutting, curling, and immodest lay- 
ing out of hair, ' and against ' the addition of superstitious ribbons 
both on hair and apparel.' Col. Rec. 

We may judge from these what is meant by the ' excess in ap- 
parel,' for which our ancestors became amenable to the law. 



NOTE K. See page 29. 

The questions addressed by the Indians to Mr. Allin and oth- 
ers, who sought to enlighten them, will illustrate their intellectu- 
al condition, and degree of aptness for religious instruction, bet- 
ter than any description could do. 



Gl 

'Why have not beasts a soul as man hath, seeing they have 
love and anger as man hath ? Why doth God punish in hell for 
ever ? Man will let out of prison. Does God understand In- 
dian ? Since we all came from one father, how came English 
to know God and not we ? Why does not God kill the Devil ? 
Does the Devil dwell in us as we in a house ? What says a soul 
when it goes to heaven or hell ? If a man think a prayer, does 
God know and reward it ? If a man be almost a good man, and 
die so, whither goes his soul ? If I sin, and know not it is sin, 
what will God say to that ? Is faith in my heart, or my mind ? 
If my heart be full of ill thoughts, and I repent and pray, and 
yet it is full again and again, what will God say ?' A woman 
asked, 'Do I pray when my husband prays, if I speak nothing as 
he doth, yet if I like what he saith, and my heart goes with it ?' 
One Indian said to another, 'what do you get by praying ? you 
go naked still, and our corn is as good as yours.' 



NOTE L. See page 30. 

In i373, the inhabitants of Pacomptuck complain that by rea- 
son of their remoteness from the place where the power of or- 
dering prudentials resides, they are subject to many distresses. 
Whereupon the Dedliam people, in lordly style, appoint their 
'trusty and well beloved and much esteemed friends,' naming a 
Committee of five persons, with various powers, among other 
things in connection with the inhabitants, with the advice of the 
Elders of the two neighboring churches, they 'have liberty to 
procure an orthodox minister to dispense the word of God amongst 
them.' 



NOTE M. See page 31. 

The guns in general use at the time of Philip's war, were 
matchlocks, heavy and inconvenient. A crotched stick was car- 
ried for a rest, and the match was kept ignited in a tin tube with 
small air holes in it. Flint locks, called 'snaphances, 1 were rare, 
yet a {ew of them were used. The town of Dedham had a small 
field-piece called a Drake, given it by the General Court in 
1650. The small canr.ons then in common use, were called 
Drakes and Sakers. 

An extract from Holmes' Annals, of 1673, will give some idea 
of the resources of the Colonies at that period. 

'N. E. is supposed to contain at this time, about 120,000 souls, 
of whom 16,000 are able to bear arms. 1500 families in Boston. 



62 

There be 5 iron works, which cast no guns. There are 15 mer- 
chants, worth about £50,000 or £5,000, one with another. 500 
persons worth .£3,000 each. No house in N. E. hath above 20 
rooms. Not 20 in Boston have 10 rooms each. The worst cot- 
tages are lofted. No riggers. Not three persons put to death 
annually, for theft. There are no musicians. A dancing school 
was set up, but put down. A fencing school is allowed. Holmes 
vol. I. p. 416. 

The number of Indians within the jurisdiction of Massachu- 
setts, in 1674, was — 

Pequods, 300 men formerly 4000 warriors. 

Narragansetts, 1000 " " 1000 

Pawkanawkets, nearly extinct, formerly 3000 " 
Massachusetts, 300 men " 3000 

Pawtuckets, 250 " " 3000 

Holmes' An. Vol. I. p. 418. 
The Pequods had been nearly exterminated in the war of 1636. 
Their tribe was broken up, and the remnant of them distributed 
among other tribes. The Narragansetts were nearly destroyed 
durinf Philip's war. There was an Indian by the name of 
Ephraim, who lived in Dedham during Philip's war, and was 
regularly assessed with the other inhabitants on all the tax lists, 
having, from the amount of his rate, considerable property. He 
was undoubtedly the same Indian referred to in history, as ' Pe- 
ter Ephraim,' who acted as guide to the forces of the Colonies 
in the expedition against the Narragansetts, and performed at 
other times many important services. 

The Massachusetts were mostly carried off by disease. The 
lands of these Indians, it is believed, were fairly purchased. — 
Chickatabot made a conveyance of the country around Boston, 
including the territory now occupied by Dedham, to the Mass. 
Colony, very early after the arrival of Gov. Winthrop and his 
associates. After the deaih of Chickatabot, which happened in 
1632 or 1633, a committee was appointed to find out such Indians 
as remembered the bargain. A short time before the delivery 
of this address, Mr. John Bullard discovered in his garret, a 
bundle of ancient Indian deeds, which are referred to in the town 
records, but were supposed to be lost. Among these is one 
beautifully engrossed upon parchment, from Josias Wampatuck, 
grandson of Chickatabot, in which he states that forasmuch as he 
is informed by several ancient Indians, &c, that his grandfather 
did, for a good and sufficient consideration, convey to the English 
Planters the tract of land now called Dedham, he therefore, in 
consideration of that fact, and of a reasonable sum of money, quit 
claims, &tc. This deed, which is long and particular, is dated 
1685. There was also a quit claim from William Nahatan, alias 



63 

Quaanan, and his brothers, Peter Natooqns and Benjamin Naha- 
tan, and their sisters, Tahkeesuisk Nahatan and Hanna Naha- 
tan, alias Jammewwosh, all of Punkapogg, dated 1680, and anoth- 
er from John Magus and Sara Magus, of Natic, dated 1681. — 
There were also three deeds of the territory at Deerfield, from 
the Pacomtuck Indians. It is to be hoped that these will be care- 
fully preserved hereafter. 

There are still several deeds missing , one from Phillip, of 
lands near Wrentham, and another from the Pacomtuck Indians. 
The last of the Aborigines in Dedham, were Alexander Quabish 
and Sarah David, his wife. Sarah died in 1774, at the house of 
Mr. Joseph Wight. She was interred in the old Indian burial 
place, about half a mile from Mr. Wight's house, at the foot of 
Wigwam hill — the last person there deposited. The funeral was 
attended by the Rev. Jason Haven. Alexander died in Need- 
ham or Natic, in 1776. 

NOTE N. See page 40. 

' Mr. W'inslow being now to go for England, the Court was 
troubled to furnish him with money or beaver, (for there was 
nothing in the treasury, the country being in debt one thousand 
pounds, and what comes in by levies is corn and cattle,) but the 
Lord stirred up the hearts of some few persons to lend one hun- 
dred pounds, to be repaid by the next levy.' Winthrop, vol. 2, 
p. L 295. This sum was advanced by Mr. Allin, as appears by 
the Col. Records of 1649. 'Ordered, that the Treasurer doe 
forthwith pay and satisfy unto Mr. John Allin, one hundred and 
thirty pounds, in the best and soonest pay that comes into the 
treasury out of this levy, for his hundred pounds he paid to Mr. 
Winslow.' Five pounds, six pounds, and thirty shillings, are al- 
so mentioned as having been loaned by other people. 

The factious Gortonists sent two messengers to the Gen. Court 
to make their peace. On their way, having got as far as Ded- 
ham, they learned that the Court had adjourned. One of them, 
therefore, addressed a letter to Gov. Winthrop, in which he says, 
' hearing at Dedham that the Court was adjourned, I made bold 
to advise with Mr. Powell, who advised me to repair to your 
worship, which upon consideration I could not do till I was as- 
sured of your worship's favorable reception.' This 'Mr. Pow- 
ell' was Michael Powell, who kept the ordinary. He afterwards 
founded the second church in Boston, where they wished to make 
him Pastor, but the Gen. Court interfered, supposing him not to 
have sufficient learning. He was however allowed to be ruling 
Elder, an office nearly as important as that of Pastor. Win- 
throp \s Hist. Col. Records. 



64 
NOTE O. Seo page 41. 

Other evidences are not wanting of Mr. Allin's decision of 
character, and of his standing in public estimation. In the year 
1662, a famous Synod was held at Boston, by order of the Gen. 
Court, to determine, among other things, who were the subjects 
of baptism. It was decided that the children of such as made a 
public profession of their faith, although not in full communion, 
might be admitted to baptism. This decision was attacked by 
Mr. Chauncey, President of the College, in print, and defended 
by Mr. Allin, it is stated, with much ability. Mr. Allin also pub- 
lished a defence of the ' nine positions.' His name stands at the 
head of a list of seventeen of the most distinguished divines in 
the Colony, who remonstrated against the proceedings which oc- 
casioned the formation of the third church in Boston, in 1670. — 
It also stands at the head of a similar list of clergymen who pre- 
sented an address to the General Court, vindicating their own 
conduct in the abovenamed matter. Hutch. Hist. 

Mr. Allin was of sufficient note in England to make it necessa- 
ry for him to escape in disguise to this country. This was also 
done at the same time by Mr. John Fiske, who was at first set- 
tled in Salem, and afterwards in Chelmsford. They were in the 
habit of preaching to the passengers on board the vessel, every 
day — so that one of the latter, being examined about his going to 
divert himself with a hook and line on the Lord's day, protested 
he did not know when the Lord's day was ; he thought every day 
was a Sabbath day, for they did nothing but preach and pray 
from one end of the week to the other. They arrived in 10.37. 

Allen's Hist, of Chelmsford. 

Cotton Mather says of Mr. Allin, — 'being a very humble man, 
he found that sanctified knowledge grows more luxuriant in the 
fat valleys of humility — being a very patient man, he found that 
the dew of heaven, which falls not in a stormy or cloudy night, 
was always falling on a soul ever serene with the meekest pa- 
tience.' Mather's Magnalia. 



NOTE P. See page 44. 

Mr. Dexter wrote much both upon politics and theology, but 
as he, before his death, burned most of his manuscripts, but few 
writings known to be his, remain. Bradford, in his History of 
Massachusetts, states that he intended to have inserted in his ap- 
pendix, an able essay on the supreme power of Parliament, writ- 
ten by Mr. Dexter, but had mislaid it. When Gen. Washing- 
ton took the command of the army at Cambridge, Mr. Dexter, at 



65 

that time a member of the Council, was recommended to him as 
one in whose judgment and fidelity he could rely. Becoming 
dissatisfied with some measures that were adopted contrary to 
his advice by the government, he retired wholly from public life, 
and devoting himself to his favorite studies declined accepting 
any olHce afterwards. He left a bequest of five thousand dollars 
to Harvard College. 



NOTE Q. See page 48. 

I have purposely omitted to dwell upon that portion of the 
History of Dedham which relates to Ecclesiastical matters and 
the character of the ministry here, knowing that at the close of 
the second century from the organization of the Church in this 
place a suitable commemoration of that event is contemplated. 



While aiming to give a concise review of a portion of the 
History of Dedham appropriate to the occasion, the writer of 
this address has endeavored to select such incidents and pursue 
such a course of narration as would encroach as little as possible 
upon the labors of Mr. Worthington, to whom the credit of first 
undertaking to develope the history of the town belongs. In the 
present case, the Town Records, and the Public Documents 
preserved in the State house, have been, except where a differ- 
ent reference is given, the chief sources of information. 

The writer is much indebted to the Rev. Mr. Felt, who is now 
engaged in arranging the State papers, for his politeness in af- 
fording every facility for their examination. 

Some facts have been verbally communicated by gentlemen 
of the town. 



GG 

Communicated v.y tub Hon. William Ellis. 

It. appears by our ancient Records, that the inhabitants of 
Dedham have frequently turned out Soldiers or armed men, for 
their defence and safety, from the early settlement of the town. 

The following statement of Officers and Soldiers from Dedham, 
who, at sundry periods, rendered military services in the princi- 
pal wars and commotions of this country for two centuries past, 
was taken from the Army Rolls, from Town Records, and from 
other sources to be relied on, but is believed to fall short of the 
actual numbers who served on most of those occasions, — Viz: 

WAR WITH KING PHILIP.— 167 5. 

Names of men from Dedham who received pay for military 
services between the date of Feb. 29, and Dec. 10, 1675, viz. — 



John Parker 
William Dean 
Thomas Bishop 
Jonathan Fairbank 
John Streeter 
Richard Bennett 
Joshua Fisher 
Jonathan Dunning 



Daniel Breight 
John Fuller 
Samuel Whiting 
John Paine 



Samuel Barry 
Nathaniel Richards 
Jonathan Smith 
John Rice 



Richard Wood (sup- William Blake 

posed Woodard) John Baker 
Josiah White (21) 

John Ellis 

1676. 



Men who received pay for military services between January 
24th and December 27th, 1676— viz: 
Joseph Skelteane James Macanab 



John Smith 
Caleb Rey 
Nathaniel Dunklin 
Benjamin Mills 
John Colborne 
James Heering 
Samuel Fuller 
William Makeyms 
John Fairbank 



Thomas Herring 
Samuel Shers 
John Houghton 
Samuel Rice 
Eleazer Guild 
Nathaniel Kingsbury 
John Elleworth 
Nathaniel Heaton 
John Fisher 



Abraham Hathaway 
Jonathan Metcalfe 
Daniel Fisher 
Jonathan Whitney 
Daniel Haws 
Samuel Guild 
James Vales 
*John Groce 
*Samuel Nowannett 
(29) 



Besides those above named, John Freeman, John Day, Sam- 
uel Colburn, Robert Ware, Henry Elliot and Ephraim Pond, 
are spoken of as having been ' impressed by virtue of a warrant 
from ye Major.' 

At this time, Dedham included the territory since incorpora- 
ted into the towns of Needham, Natick, Bellingham, Walpolc, 
and Dover. 



* Indians. 



67 

There is a tradition concurred in by the aged people of the 
south parish, that about the year A. 1). 1740, six men engaged 
from that part of the town, in an expedition against Havanna on 
the Island of Cuba, and that no one of them ever returned, but 
died of sickness, the names of two only are ascertained, viz. — 
Walter Hixon and Eleazer Farrington. 



FIRST FRENCH WAR.— 1744— 5. 

Served at the long and memorable siege of Louisburg, Cape 
Breton, a number of men from Dedham; the names of eight 
only are ascertained, viz: — Rev Thomas Balch as Chaplain, 
Capt. Eleazer Fisher, William Weatberbee, Samuel Weather- 
bee, John Thorp, Michael Brite, Samuel Thorp, and Hugh 
Delap. 

Mr. Balch, and others of these men, returned home from this 
siege, after an absence of sixteen months. Capt. Fisher also re- 
turned as far as Boston, but there died of sickness. Hugh De- 
lap, a skiliiil gunner and engineer, was killed at the siege, by the 
bursting of a cannon. He bad, previously to that event, dispos- 
ed of his effects by a Will, which be sent to his friends in the 
south parish, where the same has been preserved to the present 
day. 

LAST FRENCH WAR,— 1755 to 1763. 

Served — Viz: 

Capt. Wm. Bacon Joseph Morse William Ellis 

Capt. Timothy Ellis James Whitaker Isaac Stowell 

Capt. Eliphalet Fales William Sterret Aaron Gay 

Lt. Aaron Guild Ezra Bullard Thomas Weatberbee 

Lt. Daniel Whiting Gilead Morse Joseph Farrington 

Ebenezer Everitt William Lewis James W^eatherbee 

Benjamin Fairbanks Joseph Whittemore Robert Mann 

Joseph Wight Hezekiah Farrington Levi Morse 

Stephen Hart Thomas Balch, jr. Josiah Everitt 

Moses Fisher John Lewis Nathaniel Farrington 

Aaron Ellis Benjamin Lewis Ephraim Richards 

Isaac Little Ephraim Farrington Seth Farrington 

William Calleyham Samuel Colburn Moses Richards 

John Carby Joseph Lewis Joseph Turner 

Eliphalet Thorp Samuel Farrington Joseph Wight, jr. 

John Hawes Samuel Backet Nathan Whiting 

Anthony Dyer Lemuel Richards David Cleveland 

William Hail Hezekiah Gay (52) 



68 

The'.military services in this war, were rendered at Ticondc- 
roga, Fort Edward, Fort William Henry, Lake George, and 
other places in that direction westward, at Canada northward, 
and at the Bay of Fundy, and Louisburg at Cape Breton, east- 
ward. 



REVOLUTIONARY WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

1775 to 1783. 

Names of men. who served in this war, either in the regular 
Continental Army, or who in the State service, performed mili- 
tary duty in one or more distant campaigns. — Viz : 

Col. Daniel Whiting *Ebenr. Fisher, Esq. *Lewis Colburn 

Capt. Joseph Guild *N. Kingsbury, Esq. *Jacob Guild 

Capt. George Gould *Benj. Bussey, Esq. *William Fairbanks 

Capt. Timothy Stow *Nathl. Chickering *John Richards 

Capt. Elipht. Thorp *Joshua Whiting * Joshua Fales 

Capt. Wm. Stephens ^Jonathan Richards *Josiah Draper 

Capt. Ebenr. Everitt Joseph Dean *Hezekiah Turner 

Lt. John Gay Lemuel Herring ^Nathaniel Bills 

Lt. Samuel Doggett Joseph Onion *Enoch Harris 

Lt. Lemuel Richards Abner Lewis William Mason 

Lt. James Kingsbury Ichabod Farrington Ebenezer Bills 



Lt. Ichabod Gay 
Oliver Guild 
Aaron Guild, jr. 
Thomas Larabee 
Enoch Talbot 
Thomas Colburn 
John Johnson 
Abiel Pettee 
Luther Bullard 
Timothy Morse 
Benjamin Dean 
George Sumner 
Benjamin Fuller 
Lemuel Stowell 
Jacob Cleveland 
Abner Bacon 
Moses Guild 
William Coney 



John Croshier 
William Everitt 
David Dana 
Thomas Eaton 
Abner Nevers 
John Smith 
Samuel Fairbanks 
Eliphalet Fuller 2d 
Jacob Smith 
Nathaniel Gay 
Benjamin Fisher 
Daniel Pettee 
Seth Fuller 
Samuel Adams 
Thomas Lewis 
Zaccheus Hawes 
Abner Farrington 
William Graham 



David Humphrey 
Hezekiah Whiting 
John Ruggles 
Thadeus Fuller 
Nathaniel Fisher 
Hezekiah Metcalf 
Archillus Clark 
Abijah Crane 
Samuel Clark 
Seth Farrington 
Stephen Arnold 
Samuel Farrington 
Aaron Fisher 
Thadeus Richards 
Timothy Lewis 
David Smith 
Samuel Chickering 
Barak Smith 



* Living in Dedham, or its vicinity, at the time of the Centennial Anni- 
versary. ^There are others of the above list yet living in the neighboring 
States. 



Thomas Ackley 
Isaac i >oggett 
Israel Fairbanks, jr, 

Abel Everett 
Lemuel Fales 

i Whiting 2d 
Ezra Gay 



G9 



David Richards Jonathan Whiting 

Josiah Bullard George White r 

Daniel Clark Ichabod Colburn 

Ambrose Davenport Jonathan Onion 

Elias Fairbanks Ths. Weatherbee, jr. 
Josiah Everett, jr. (106) 

Eli Farrington 



Reside the men above enumerated, very considerable num- 
bers of our townsmen performed longer or shorter tours of mili- 
tary service, in this vicinity only, viz: — at Lexington battle, at 
Roxbury, Cambridge, Fort Hill, Lamb's Dam, Dorchester 
Heights. Castle Island, Nantaskett, and at many places on the 
frontiers of Rhode Island.* 



A number of this class of men were still living in Dedham and 
Dover on the day of the celebration. — Viz: 

Lt. Aaron Whiting Jere. Shuttleworth Joel Guild 

Dea. Jesse Gay Thadeus Gay Jeremiah Raker 

John Dean Reuben Richards Phinehas Colburn 

Joseph Raker Elihu Onion (13) 

Calvin Whiting, Esq. John Rrown 

INSURRECTION.— 1786— 1787. 

In the month of December, 1786, the Executive Government 
of 3 Massachusetts made a requisition on the town of Dedham for 
a quota of men to march to the westerly part of the State, to sus- 
tain the supremacy of the laws, and suppress an Insurrection in- 
stigated by Daniel Shays. The requisition was promptly com- 
plied with, by a company made up of volunteers, who in the 
midst of a most severe winter, marched to Connecticut River 
and Vermont. The Insurgents were soon dispersed and order 
restored, with the loss of but few lives. 

Names of the men who thus volunteered. 



Capt. Daniel Fisher David Rullard 
Lt. Lewis Colburn Jacob Penniman 
David Ellis Josiah White 

Amasa Guild Isaac Smith 

Lemuel Gay 
John Raker 
Joseph Howe 



Timothy Morse 
Nathan Ellis, jr. 
Edward Ruckminster 
Enoch Harris 
Thomas Farrington David Smith 
Comfort Weatherbee Ebenezer Shepard 
William Symms William Fisher 



•The late Fisher Ames, then quite a young man, went out in one or 
more of these expeditions, in the company of Capt. Abel Kichards. 



70 

Jeremiah Fisher Jabez Wight Jesse Lyon 

Nathaniel Lewis Ebenezer Guild Samuel Robinson 

Joel Guild Nathan Metcalf Heman Bostwick 

Ebenezer Wilkinson William Wight Joseph Conner 

Lewis Thorp Seth Farrington Joel Richards 

William Maxfield Aaron Fuller Benjamin Herring 

Silas Morse Ithamer Farrington Jesse Richards 

William Shepard Thadeus Carby John Whitaker (45) 

WAR OF 1812. 

The Dedham Light Infantry Company, under Capt. Abner 
Guild, performed several months military service, at South Bos- 
ton, in the war of 1812. 

The preceding military services are not mentioned by way of 
boasting, but merely to show that the inhabitants of Dedham, 
from its early settlement, have not been behind other towns in 
their readiness to meet danger and privation, in defence of their 
firesides, their rights and liberties, or to sustain the supremacy 
of the laws, when menaced by unlawful power. With the sin- 
cere hope that the bright examples of virtue, moral courage, 
military ardor and patriotism, exhibited by our townsmen in the 
cause of justice and humanity, in the two Centuries past, will 
inspire the hearts of their successors with a determined zeal in 
all coming time when justice calls, to ' go and do likewise.' 



CELEBRATION AT DEDHAM. 

September 21, 1836. 

At a town-meeting, held on the 9th day of November, 1835, a 
committee of twenty-one citizens was appointed to make ar- 
rangements for the celebration of the second centennial anni- 
versary of the incorporation and settlement of the town, and to 
report their proceedings at a future town-meeting. 

The Report of this committee was made on the 7th of March, 
1836, as follows — 

The committee appointed, &c. Report, 

1 That they have procured and engaged Samuel F. Haven, 
Esq. to compose and deliver an Address on that occasion. And 



71 

your Committee submit to the Town the following Report as to 
the Arrangements to be made to carry their vote into effect. 

1st, That the Address be delivered in the Meeting house in 
the first parish in Dedham, on Wednesday, the twenty first day 
of September next, at eleven o'clock in the forenoon. 

2d, That the reverend Clergy of the several Societies in the 
Town be invited to attend, and that Prayers be offered by^trch 
of them as they may agree upon. 

3d, That the Choirs of Singers in the several religious Socie- 
ties in the Town are invited to attend and perform Sacred Music. 

4th, That the Dedham Light Infantry Company are requested 
to attend and perform Escort duties. 

5th, That a procession be formed, and move to the Meeting 
House at half past ten o'clock in the forenoon, preceded by the 
Escort and Music. 

6th, That a public Dinner be provided for those who choose 
to subscribe, and that the Reverend Clergy be invited to par- 
take of it with the Subscribers. 

7th, That suitable Instrumental Music be provided to attend 
the Escort and Procession, at the expense of the Town. 

8th, That these, and all minor Arrangements for the occasion, 
be made by such Committee as the Town may see fit to choose.' 

At a town-meeting, held on the 11th day of April A. D. 1836, 
William Ellis, Enos Foord, Ira Cleveland, William King Gay, 
and Jabez Coney, Jr. were chosen a committee to carry the ar- 
rangements, recommended in the foregoing report, into full ef- 
fect. 

Under the direction of this Committee of Arrangements, were 
the following proceedings. 

On the 21st of September, at sunrise, the bells of the several 
Churches were rung, and a salute of one hundred guns fired. 
At half past 10 o'clock, a procession was formed at the town 
house, under the direction of Nathaniel Guild, as Chief Mar- 
shal, assisted by Marshals, 

John Morse Ira Russell Nathan Phillips 

Luther Eaton Merrill Ellis Josiah Dean 2d 

Theodore Gay 2d Samuel C. Mann Benjamin Boyden 

Reuben Guild 2d Edward B. Holmes Joseph Day 

EzraW Taft Edward D. Weld Elbridge G. Robinson 

James Downing Austin Bryant Theodore Metcalf 

Francis Guild Nath'l A. Hewins Reuben G. Trescott 

Stephen Barry Joseph Fisher 

Joseph A. Wilder John D. Colburu 



72 

The procession moved under the escort of the Dedharn Light 
Infantry, commanded by Capt. William Pedrick, with a band of 
music, through the principal streets, to the Meeting House of 
the First Parish. At the Norfolk Hotel, the procession was 
joined by His Excellency, Edward Everett, Governor of the 
Commonwealth, and his suite ; and also by the reverend Clergy 
and other invited guests. On the green, in front of the Meeting 
House, was an ornamental arch, erected for the occasion, and 
covered with evergreens and flowers. Upon one side of it was 
inscribed, 'Incorporated, 1636;' and on the other, '1836.' Be- 
tween this arch and the Meeting House, eight Engine Compa- 
nies had placed their engines and apparatus, in two lines, leav- 
ing a space between them for the passing of the procession. On 
the inner sides of these lines, about five hundred children of the 
different schools were arranged by their instructors. Through 
this arch, and between these lines of children, the procession 
passed into the House. 

The services were commenced by singing the anthem, 'Wake 
the song of Jubilee,' &c. Prayer was then offered by the Rev. 
Alvan Lamson, of the First Parish. The following hymn, com- 
posed for the occasion by the Rev. John Pierpont of Boston, was 
read by the Rev. Calvin Durfee, of the South Parish, and sung 
to the tune of 'Old Hundred.' 

Not now, O God, beneath the trees 

That shade this plain, at night's cold noon 

Do Indian war-songs load the breeze, 
Or wolves sit howling to the moon. 

The foes, the fears our fathers felt, 

Have, with our fathers, passed away ; 
And where, in their dark hours, they knelt, 

We come to praise thee and to pray. 

We praise thee that thou plantedst them, 

And mad'st thy heavens drop down their dew, 

We pray that, shooting from their stem, 
We long may flourish where they grew. 

And, Father, leave us not alone : — 

Thou hast been, and art still our trust : — 

Be thou our fortress, till our own 
Shall mingle with our father's dust. 

The foregoing Address was then delivered by Samuel F. Ha- 
ven. 



73 

Another anthem was then sung, and the services were closed 
with a Benediction by the Rev. Samuel B. Babcock, of the Epis- 
copal Church. 

At the close of the seiwiccs, a procession was again formed of 
the subscribers to a Dinner, and their guests, and was escorted 
to a Pavilion, erected for the occasion, on land of John Bullard, 
a few rods west of the Meeting House, where about six hun- 
dred persons were seated at the tables. James Richardson pre- 
sided at this dinner, assisted by John Endieott, George Bird, 
Abner Ellis, Theron Metcalf and Thomas Barrows, as Vice 
Presidents. A blessing was asked, by the Rev. John White, of 
the West Parish, and thanks returned by the Rev. Dr. Jonathan 
Homer, of Newton. 

After the cloth was removed, the President announced the 
following (among other) sentiments, which were received with 
great satisfaction, and interspersed with music from the band 
which accompanied the procession, and with appropriate songs. 

1. The Day, with all its hallowed associations and congenial 
joys: May we prove true and faithful to our ancestors, to our in- 
stitutions, and to posterity. 

2. The memory of the first settlers of this town, their resolution, 
fortitude, perseverance, and devotion to civil and religious liber- 
ty: May we never, in our zeal to outstrip them in accomplish- 
ments, leave their virtues in the rear. 

S. The Governor of the Commonwealth: The stock was the 
growth of our own soil ; a branch is refreshing the State by its 
shadow, and its fruit has been healthful to the nation. 

His Excellency, the Governor, then addressed the President 
and company, as follows — 

Mr. President and Gentlemen, — I cannot but be sensibly af- 
fected by the kind notice you are pleased to take of me. The 
occasion is one, which must interest every reflecting mind. — 
No one can witness what we behold at this moment, or hear 
what we have heard this day, without being highly gratified: 
but the toast, which has been announced, must prepare you for 
my saying that though personally a stranger to almost all pres- 
ent, I take more than a stranger's interest in the celebration. 
My ancestors, from the very first foundation of Dedharn in 1636, 
were established here, and like the great majority of the people, 
in the unambitious condition of cultivators of the soil. The 
name of the first of them, who has been so kindly remembered 

10 



74 

by the orator of (he Hay. in his most appropriate, eloquent, and 
instructive discourse, is found in the list <>t'lhe original settlers of 
the place. In the second generation, 1 have just perceived in 
one of the interesting ancient parchments, which have passed 
along the table, that another of the name was one of the four 
Commissioners, who in 1686 received a confirmation of the In- 
dian title, from the grandson <>f Chickatawbut, of whom it was 
originally purchased. My own honored father was born and 
grew up to manhood here, in the same humble sphere; — and as 
I came back to-dav, fellow-citizens, to breathe among you the 
native air of my race, — I must say that, with the greater expe- 
rience I have of the cares and trials of public station, the more 
ready I am to wish, that it had been my lot to grow up and pass 
my life, in harmless obscurity, in these peaceful shades, and ai- 
ter an unobtrusive career, to he gathered to my sires, in the old 
Dedham grave-yard, where, 

Each in his narrow cell forever laid. 
The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep. 

But not to dwell any longer on what is merely* personal to an 
individual, let me say, sir, that 1 i < gard a festival like this, hot 
only as highly interesting but exceedingly significant and instruc- 
tive. It is often said by superficial writers in Europe, that our 
institutions are a mere experiment, — the mushroom growth of 
yesterday ; — and from this assumed fact of their recent origin, 
their short-lived duration is foreboded. To this reproach, let 
the expressive answers be given in the golden cyphers blazoned 
on the front of the pulpit this day, 1686, and tastefully wreathed 
in evergreen on-' the arch which adorns yonder lawn. The 
mushroom growth of yesterday ! Sir, this is a centennial, a sec- 
ond centennial anniversary. Our Institutions, political, civil, 
and social are not of yesterday.- — they are substantially two hun- 
dred years old. Their foundation is not laid on modern straw 
or stubble ; it goes down to the lowest stratum, — the origin of 
the colony, — the primitive rock. "NYe have, I trust, in all things 
where it was needful or practicable, kept pace with and even 
gone beyond the improvements of the long intervening period, 
but as all the substantial elements of our rights and liberties 
were implanted by the fathers, so in all things there has been a 
measured progress and a slow ripening towards maturity. The 
federal constitutions and the constitutions of the States, which 
have most attracted the notice of Europe, are indeed the work 
of the last generation ; but the great principles on which they 
are founded are coeval with the country. You might as well 
call the great oak tree in front of Mr. Avery's house, in East 
street, the growth of yesterday, because its broad expanse of 



To 

foliage has put forth the present season, whereas its acorn was 
deposited generations ago, and its trunk has braved the blasts 
of two ce The wonderful progress and development 

which have taken place in the country, in the last forty years, 
and no where more than in J >edham, are but the spread- 

ing brani waving foliage, the ripened fruit from that 

germ, which our fathers planted in tribulation and watered with 
their tears. The principles were early here. Herein Massa- 
chusetts, — more than two centuries ago, while the people yet 
abode in I which were alluded to by the orator, 

and constructed by < ach man for himself, (for artizans as yet 
there were none. i with the Indian in the neighboring swamp, 
and the wolf at midnight before the threshold, — there was a solid 
frame-work of representative government, — a well compacted 
civil society, — there were laws and tribunals to enforce them, — 
there were sc ovision for their support; there was a 

college generousl) endowed by public and private liberality, of 
which Mr. Allin, your first minister, was one of the first over- 
seers; : was meel provision for the maintenance of the 
Worship of God, and the dispensation of the Gospel. All this is 
two hundred years old among us, and 1 trust in Heaven that be- 
fore it ceases, from among us, it will be two thousand. 

1 derive from the age of these our Institutions, (and surely 
they arc the life and soul of the body politic, — that which gives 
outward forms thi ir '. r and value,) an argument in favor of 
t leir permanence. They will not go down with tomorrow's sun, 
for they did not spring up yesterday. They were not reared by 
our hands, and when we perish they will survive us. They 
guided and cheered hers, and carried them through dark 

and trying times, and I have a cheerful hope that, for long gen- 
erations to come, they will guide and direct our children. 

Sir. 1 mean no em] ty compliment when I say, that, taking the 
character of your ancient town as it appears in history, — or even 
in the instructive summary, which the Orator has given us of it, 
it appears to me en admirable specimen of the true New Eng- 
land character. We may take a distinction in this matter. In 
first breaking the way in the arduous enierprize of settling anew 
country, — especially under the discouraging circumstances in 
which our lathers were placed, — it was perhaps unavoidable, 
that some harsh and repulsive traits should be found on the part 
of some of the leaders: — and in point of fact, such traits are 
found in the characters of some of 'the chief men at Boston and 
Salem. But I do not find them hei*e. The settlers of Dedham 
appeared, to use a homely phrase, singularly disposed to keep 
our of hot water. They left the harassing controversies of the 
day to their brethren at the Northern part of the Colony. 



76 

There was but one topic, on which they wanned into passion, 
and that was Liberty. When that was in peril, they were 
wrought to a noble frenzy. If a poor Quaker was to be 
scourged at the Cart-tail, as the Orator told us, they waited in 
Dedham for orders from the Metropolis ; but when a usurper 
was to be prostrated, when the country people were to rush to 
Town 'in such heat and rage' as to make the Boston folks trem- 
ble : when a bold champion was required, to burst into Mr. Ush- 
er's house, to drag forth the tyrant by the collar, to bind him, 
and cast him into the Fort, then Dedham is ready with her in- 
trepid Daniel Fisher, — the son of the proscribed speaker of the 
same name, — 'a second Daniel,' as the Orator beautifully ex- 
pressed it, 'literally come to judgment !' 

But this was the overflowing of popular feeling, at a crisis. In 
ordinary times, the name they wished to give their settlement, 
Contentment, though of a somewhat puritanical sound, well ex- 
presses their character. But though they were contented with 
their condition, it was not a stupid contentment. They had not 
'the flagrant stupidity,' to use the quaint combination of ideas, 
which the Orator quoted from your revolutionary records, to set 
at naught all efforts at improvement. Theirs was a rational 
contentment, — pretty busy in trying to better their condition, 
that they might have more to be contented with. Not to speak 
of the great enterprize of settling Deerlield, they set an example, 
in the very infancy of the Town, of an enlarged and liberal poli- 
cy of improvement, in constructing the Canal which unites the 
waters of the Charles with those of the Neponset, and this, as 
we were told by the Orator, as early as 1639, Why, sir, this 
communication used to be spoken of, as a wonderful natural 
phenomenon. It has turned out to be an artificial work, execu- 
ted by the order of the town, three years after the settlement. 
Well may it be called Mother Brook, parent as it is of all the 
thousand works of internal improvement, which have spread 
their net-work over the country, bringing Art to the aid of Na- 
ture, and calling Science to minister to the comfort and pros- 
perity of Man. It is a pleasing proof of the good judgment, 
with which the work was projected, that it still serves the pur- 
pose, for which it was originally designed, and is the seat of ac- 
tivity, industry, and productive power, contributing essentially to 
the prosperity of Dedham. Without taking up more of your 
time, Sir, I beg leave to propose as a closing sentiment : — 

Our Fathers — In their piety and humility, contented with a 
little, may their posterity, to whom they have bequeathed a her- 
itage of the richest blessings, be contented and grateful in its 
enjoyment, and faithful in its transmission ! 



77 

4. The Unii'trs'ilii at Cambridge — the offspring of the labors 
and privations of the Puritan Fathers: while we venerate the 
parents, let us cherish the child; and may it always be['guided 
by as unerring a hand as now holds the reins. 

5. Practical Education: That teaches what to do, and when to 
do it, and never to rest satisfied till it is done, and well done. 

6. The objects of the deep solicitude of our ancestry — the 
church and the school houst : May the progress of religious, moral 
and intellectual culture within, transcend that of material beauty 
without. 

7. The memory of the Rev. Samuel Dexter and Doctor Nathan- 
iel Ames, Senior: Townsmen, distinguished for piety and learn- 
ing, science and philosophy; and whose descendants have been, 
and are, among the gifted and illustrious men of our nation. 

8. The principles and spirit that brought the pilgrims to these 
shores — cherished and venerated by succeeding ages, embodied 
in our constitution and laws — dispensing blessings over our whole 
country — in peace or Avar, in weal or woe, may we never aban- 
don those principles, nor prove recreant to that spirit. 

9. The memory of Governor Winthrop: His presence awed the 
savages during his life: He is indebted to a Savage for the best 
edition of his memorable ' Journal.' 

10. The Militia — the only safe defence of Republics: When 
legislators doubt, let them consult the spirits of Warren, Pres- 
cott, and the Heroes of Bunker Hill. 

On announcing sentiments alluding to the guests, or their an- 
cestors, several, besides the Governor, addressed the company — 
among others, John Davis, Judge of the District Court of the 
United States for the District of Massachusetts — Josiah Quincy, 
President of Harvard College — Henry A. S.Dearborn, Adjutant 
General of the Commonwealth — William Jackson, Representa- 
tive in Congress — Franklin Dexter — Alexander H Everett — 
and Robert C. Winthrop, Aid to Governor Everett. A great 
number of sentiments were also given by invited guests and by 
the citizens of the town. 

An interesting part of the proceedings at this celebration was 
perforrrei by the Ladies of Dedham. They spread a table the 
whole length of the lower floor of the Court House, and very 
tastefully furnished it with a most ample collation. The court 
*oom was used as a drawing room, and the library room was ad- 



78 

mirably decorated, and tables there supplied and adorned with 
delicate fruits, native and exotic. 

A piano forte was placed in the court room, and music formed 
part of the entertainment. The following Hymn prepared for 
the occasion (by a lady,) was sung by the ladies, accompanying 
the piano. 

Welcome, all dear friends, returning, 
Though from different paths you come; 

Welcome all whose hearts are yearning 
For their dear-loved native home. 

Some in foreign lands have wandered, 

Some from the ' far west ' have come ; 
Yet where'er the footsteps lingered, 

Thought still turned to ' home, sweet home!' 

Many a well-known face shall meet ye, 

Many a joyous smile shall bless; 
Many a kindred heart shall greet ye, 

While old friends around you press. 

Come then, hasten, with us gather 

Round our simple festive board; 
Come, and with us bless that Father, 

Who on all his love hath poured. 

Condescend to grant Thy blessing, 

Thou who dost our lives defend, 
While Thy children Thee addressing, 

Own Thee as their common Friend. 

At the request of the managers of this exhibition, a gentlemen 
made an informal suggestion to the Governor, in the morning, 
that the ladies, at the court house, would be happy to receive 
him and his suite, and to tender him their respect and hospitality. 
His Excellency expressed his readiness to accede to their wish- 
es; and on retiring from the table at the pavilion, at about five 
o'clock, he proceeded to the court room, where he passed half 
an hour, to the great gratification of the ladies, and apparently 
with pleasure to himself. The singing of the hymn was re- 
peated, while he was in the room. After he had been invited 
into the library room, and had partaken of the fruits, he re- 
turned to the court room, and from the bench made a short ad- 
dress to the ladies — in which he remarked on the privations, 
sufferings, fortitude and piety of the first mothers and daughters 



79 

of the colony, and concluded by inviting them to cherish the 
memory of the Lady Arbella Johnson. 

The informal invitation of the ladies was extended to all the 
other gentlemen who were invited as guests, by the Committee 
of Arrangements; and several of them, besides the Governor's 
suite, accompanied him to the court house. 









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